Judicial review
3-Jan-2017: SC widens the scope of judicial review
In the case of, Krishna Kumar Singh v State of Bihar, Supreme Court held that re-promulgation of an ordinance was a fraud on the Constitution and that the ordinances passed by the President and the State Governors by bypassing the legislature are not immune from judicial review. The bench stated that since an ordinance has the same force as a law passed by the legislature, it will now be mandatory to place it before the Parliament or the State legislature.
Article 123 of the Constitution of India gives the power and authority to the President of India to issue an ordinance only when both the Houses of Parliament are not in session. In addition, it states that any ordinance can have the same force and effect as a statute of Parliament only if it is laid before both the houses of the Parliament. Further, Ordinance so made will hold good only for a duration of six weeks from the reassembly of Parliament. Article 213 mandates near identical terms with respect to the ordinances on subject of State authority. It is understood that the authority to issue ordinances shall be used only to meet the emergent demands arising out of extraordinary situations.
Krishna Water Disputes
9-Jan-2017: Supreme court turned down Telangana's plea against Krishna tribunal award
Supreme Court turned down the Telangana government's petition against a decision of the Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal-II to limit the re-allocation of the river water only to the two successor States of Andhra and Telangana, and not to dabble with the share of water enjoyed by the other two riparian States — Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Supreme court categorically refused to intervene with the decision of the Water Dispute Tribunal-II to confine the question of re-allocation of river water, post bifurcation of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, to the two successor States of Telangana and Andhra and not all the four riparian States. The tribunal had decided that the details of the re-distribution would be decided as per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014 by an apex council headed by top officials.
Yettinahole project
27-Jan-2017: Activists threaten to go on hunger strike
Activists opposing the Yettinahole diversion project have threatened to go on an indefinite hunger strike if the State government did not take a decision to stop the project.
The strike will be held under aegis of the Netravathi Rakshana Samyukta Samiti. Activists said, the State government is going ahead with the project sidelining the concerns over the non-availability of water and damage to the eco-sensitive Western Ghats. Kambala is held more in areas lying on the river banks of Netravathi and it should be protected for survival of kambala.
The eastern districts of Karnataka; Kolar and Chikkaballapur are frequently affected by drought due to erratic rainfall and absence of any perennial source of water for drinking purposes for the populace as well as livestock in the region. It is a long standing demand of the people in the region that a permanent and dependable source of water be identified and these areas are supplied with assured drinking water. Furthermore, the ground water table in these regions has reached alarming depths due to over exploitation, as a consequence of which the available ground water is contaminated with harmful salts like Fluoride, Nitrate, etc. in excess of permissible level.
Various studies were undertaken to identify the sources of water to supply to these districts. During the course of such studies, one of the proposals which was considered apt to be taken up for further consideration was harnessing west flowing Yettinahole, Kadumanehole, Kerihole and Hongadahalla originating in the upper reaches of Western Ghats near Sakleshpura. It is proposed to divert about 24.01 TMC of water from these streams during the monsoon period from June to October. The proposal is to divert the excess flow by constructing 8 weirs restricting the height to avoid any submergence.
The project aims to provide safe drinking water to the drought prone areas of Kolar, Chikkaballapur and other needy areas of Hasan, Ramanagara, Chikmagalur, Bangalore (Rural), Tumkur enroute along with filling up of 527 Nos of MI tanks to its 50% capacity with a view to recharge the ground water besides dilution of chemical contaminants of which fluoride is predominant.