The Supreme Court on Tuesday (January 23) dealing with the Mahanadi water dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh directed the Centre to constitute a tribunal within one month to resolve the impending issue.

The apex court also directed that only that tribunal would be responsible to resolve the issue.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik had previously written letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to constitute a tribunal to resolve the water dispute.

Patnaik had written in the letter: “I may emphasize that the federal scheme of our Constitution does not countenance forcing the unwilling state to negotiate or deliberate particularly in a situation like this, where the opposite state has been using negotiation only as a handle to delay the adjudication to complete its projects and create a fait accompli.”

—India Legal Bureau