The Bench opted out since one of the judges hailed from Karnataka while the other was from Tamil Nadu.
Published Jul 05, 2023 | 8:16 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 05, 2023 | 8:20 PM
The Supreme Court of India. (Creative Commons)
Two Supreme Court judges on Wednesday, 5 July, recused themselves from hearing a petition on a dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over construction on the Pennaiyar river.
Justice AS Bopanna and Justice MM Sundresh opted out since the former hailed from Karnataka and the latter was from Tamil Nadu.
Soon after the matter was called for hearing, both judges recused themselves from hearing it and said in a lighter vein that they may start fighting with each other if they were to deal with the dispute.
“We both cannot hear,” Justice Sundresh said. “We will start fighting,” Justice Bopanna, who hails from Karnataka, said.
The Bench referred the original suit to the Chief Justice of India. “Place the matter before the Chief Justice of India to constitute an appropriate bench,” the order said.
Earlier, a bench of Justice MR Shah (since retired) and Justice Manoj Misra heard the matter.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Water Resources informed the top court that it has submitted a proposal for setting up of Pennaiyar Water Dispute Tribunal under the Interstate Water Dispute Act, 1956, to the Cabinet Secretariat for consideration and approval of the Union Cabinet.
The Cabinet is yet to decide on the proposal.
Earlier, Justice Shah and Justice Misra, on 2 May, had given the Centre a month to constitute the Penniyar Water Disputes Tribunal, including the issuance of a gazette notification.
Before the directive was issued, a bench of Justice Shah and Justice CT Ravikumar, on 14 December, 2022, had given the Centre three months to complete the process of constituting the tribunal to resolve the dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
The Centre sought six months to complete the process.
The Tamil Nadu government filed the original suit on 18 May, 2018, against Karnataka for constructing check dams and diversion structures on the Pennaiyar river. Tamil Nadu sought the setting up of the Penniyar Water Disputes Tribunal to deal with the dispute.
The matter was first listed before a top court bench on 7 January, 2019. It has been since listed 14 times.
