BREAKING| Supreme Court Directs Centre To Constitute Tribunal To Decide Pennaiyar River Dispute Between Tamil Nadu And Karnataka

The Supreme Court today directed constitution of a Tribunal for resolving disputes pending between the States of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over sharing of Pennaiyar river water resources.

The Court ordered the constitution of a Water Disputes Tribunal by the Central Government within 1 month.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and NV Anjaria delivered the judgment, after having reserved its decision in December last year. In September, 2025, the Court was informed that a Tribunal was required to be constituted for resolution of the dispute. 

To recap, the dispute was brought to the top court by State of Tamil Nadu in form of a suit under Article 131 of the Constitution against State of Karnataka and Union of India. Over the course of hearings, it was suggested that as negotiations between the States did not result in a solution, the Union government may constitute a Tribunal to do the needful.

However, eventually, the Union apprised the court that a request had been received on behalf of State of Karnataka to the effect that its newly constituted government would like to re-explore the possibility of settling the dispute with Tamil Nadu through negotiations. State of Karnataka supported the same, contending that the new government, which was elected in May, 2023, had had no opportunity to negotiate with State of Tamil Nadu with respect to the dispute. Counsels for Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, objected by asserting that the Union had initiated the process for constitution of a Tribunal, however, went back on it.

In response, the State of Karnataka pressed that a Tribunal could be constituted only after Central government was of the opinion that the dispute could not be resolved through negotiations.

In January, 2024, directing constitution of a new Negotiation Committee, the top Court noted that under Section 4 of the Inter-States River Water Disputes Act, 1956, a Tribunal can be constituted only after the Central government is of the opinion that the water dispute cannot be settled by negotiations. It further recorded that the time limit for completion of the negotiation process is also specified in the Act as 1 year.

In November, 2024, the Court was informed that mediation process between the States of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had failed.

Appearance: Sr Adv and AAG V Krishnamurthy, Sr Advs P Wilson, NR Elango & G Umapathy and AoR Misha Rohatgi (for Tamil Nadu); ASG Aishwarya Bhati and AoR Dr N Visakamurthy (for Union); Sr Advs Shyam Divan and Mohan V Katarki, Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty and AoR Nishanth Patil (for Karnataka)

Case Title: THE STATE OF TAMIL NADU Versus THE STATE OF KARNATAKA AND ANR., ORGNL.SUIT No. 1/2018