Mhadei dispute pending in SC; no exclusive hearing sought recently: Goa govt

Panaji, Jan 15 (PTI) The Goa government has told the legislative assembly that it has not filed any separate application in the Supreme Court in the last nine months seeking an exclusive date for hearing the Mhadei river water dispute.

The matter is pending before a bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, it said on Wednesday.

Replying to a question by MLA Aleixo Lourenco during the ongoing winter session of the Goa assembly, Water Resources Minister Subhash Shirodkar said that listing, scheduling and modality of hearing of cases are within the exclusive domain of the Chief Justice of India.

The minister informed the House that by an order dated November 13, 2024, the Supreme Court had directed that the Mhadei matter be re-listed for directions in the week commencing January 20, 2025. Although a date was fixed thereafter, the case could not be taken up as the top court was engaged in hearing other listed matters, he said.

Shirodkar said that after Justice B R Gavai assumed office as the Chief Justice of India in May 2025, the matter could not be taken up as he hailed from Maharashtra, which is a party to the proceedings.

Replying to a separate query, the minister explained that Goa had approached the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Centre to withdraw the in-principle clearance granted to Karnataka for diversion of 7.56 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water from the Mhadei basin to the Malaprabha basin and for the constitution of a water disputes tribunal under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.

He said that during the pendency of the proceedings before the apex court, the Centre approved the constitution of the ‘Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal’ in November 2010, following which the Supreme Court disposed of Goa’s original suit in January 2011 with liberty to raise all issues before the tribunal.

Goa filed a petition against the order passed by the Water Dispute Tribunal in 2018.

Neighbouring Karnataka and Maharashtra governments have also filed the petitions before the Supreme Court.

Goa and Karnataka are embroiled in a dispute over sharing the Mhadei river water. The BJP-ruled Goa has accused the Congress-governed Karnataka of planning to divert the river water by constructing two dams. PTI RPS NR