Supreme Court has agreed to Goa government’s request for a personal hearing on Mhadei River Water diversion issue and the date for same will be known on August 24, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant informed on Wednesday.
All the three States-Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra have approached the Apex Court challenging Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT) Award on water sharing between the trio, passed in August 2018.
Speaking to reporters, Sawant said that the Mhadei Case had come up for hearing in the Supreme Court today and that the State, objecting to virtual hearing, requested for grant of personal hearing.
Accepting Goa governments request, the Supreme Court has fixed the personal hearing on August 24.
“Mhadei Case came up for hearing in Supreme Court, have requested for personal case hearing & not virtual, SC has agreed, personal hearing date to be finalized on August 24,” he said.
“This is very serious issue and is related to three states. We wanted this hearing to be on a personal basis and not virtual. On Aug 24, SC will not announce the verdict but the next date for hearing,” he added.
Based on Tribunal award, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) granted approval to Karnataka to undertake construction work at Kalasa-Banduri project after taking necessary approvals like forest and wildlife clearance from the concerned authorities and preparation of new DPR.
Goa government had raised strong objection to the approval granted.