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35 Colum. J. Asian L. 1 (2022)

handle is hein.journals/colas35 and id is 1 raw text is: COLUMBIA JOURNAL OF ASIAN LAW VOLUME 35 SPRING 2022 NUMBER 1 Articles WATER FEDERALISM, TRIBUNALIZATION OF WATER JUSTICE AND HYDRO-POLITICS: INDIA'S INTER-STATE RIVER WATER DISPUTES ACT AT 65 YEARS Tony George Puthucherril* India's water federalism is at a crossroads. It is a unique two- tier system that has the constitutional and enabling provisions for water management and inter-state water dispute resolution as its base. These support the tribunal system that adjudicates inter-state river water disputes and administers water justice. More than six decades have elapsed since its establishment. At the same time, during this period, the per capita water availability has fallen drastically. India is now one of the world's most water-stressed countries. Water disputes between States are becoming more animated and highly volatile. This article examines water federalism in India in terms of two questions: 1) Should water be transferred from the State List to the Concurrent List? 2) Should India persist with the tribunal system or replace it with the judicial process at the Supreme Court level? The first assumes importance as India persists with the river linking project. The second is relevant because the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act is almost 65 years old. In 2016, India's Supreme Court re-wrote the law, and, more recently, the Union Government sought to revamp the Inter-State * Professor of Law, Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University, India, Senior Research Fellow, International Ocean Institute, Canada, and Research Associate, Marine and Environmental Law Institute, Dalhousie University, Canada. The author is a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar and holds a Ph.D. in Sea Level Rise, Climate Change and Coastal Climate Change Adaptation from the Dalhousie University and an M.Phil. in Water Law from the National University of Juridical Sciences, India. He can be reached at tonygeorge00@gmail.com. Research assistance was provided by Akash Dubey, Final-Year Candidate (2016-2021) B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) Jindal Global Law School. For all her love and support, I dedicate this paper to my dearest Judgeamma, the Honourable Judge Sandra E. Oxner O.C., Chairperson, Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute, Canada. I am also grateful to the Honourable Justice Madan B. Lokur, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India and to Professors Michael Deuterbide and Diana Ginn of the Dalhousie Law School for their encouragement and affection.

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