Chennai

The Tamil Nadu government's continuous efforts to resolve the Pennaiyar River dispute has resulted in the Supreme Court delivering a favourable judgment on February 2, state Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan has said.

The people of Tamil Nadu now expect the Union government to implement the judgment, he said.

"I expect the Union government to immediately set up an arbitration panel to fulfill the expectations of the people of Tamil Nadu," the minister said, reacting to the verdict.

On Monday, the Apex Court directed the Centre to constitute a tribunal within a month to adjudicate the inter-state water dispute over the Pennaiyar (Thenpennai) River between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Tamil Nadu had filed a lawsuit in 2018 against the neighbouring state for attempting to construct check dams and diversion structures across the river, contending that the move violated the rights of the lower riparian state.

Tamil Nadu would continue to take all necessary steps to secure the Pennaiyar and Markandeya waters swiftly to protect the welfare of the people dependent on the rivers for drinking and agriculture purposes, the minister said in a statement here.

He said since Pennaiyar and its tributary Markandeya river were covered by the 1892 Madras-Mysore Treaty, the Karnataka government has to obtain the consent of Tamil Nadu to carry out construction across them.

The Centre constituted a negotiation committee in January 2020. In its final report on July 31, 2020, the committee recommended that the Jal Shakthi Ministry to constitute an arbitration panel. However, the Union Government delayed the constitution of the panel, he claimed.

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He pursued the issue with the Union Ministry based on the advice of Chief Minister M K Stalin in 2021 and sought for the constitution of the arbitration panel to resolve the dispute at the earliest, and followed this up with letters.

During his meeting with Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Paatil in the national capital, Duraimurugan sought a direction to the Negotiation Committee to submit a report to expedite the process of constituting the water disputes tribunal for Pennaiyar Basin.