Swatanter Kumar, J. - (1.) NEARLY ten years back, the petitioner in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 668 of 2002, a practicing advocate, instituted the petition based on some study that there was a need to conserve water and properly utilize the available resources. Thus, the present petition has been instituted with the following prayers:- "a. Issue an appropriate writ order or direction, more particularly a writ in the nature of Mandamus directing the respondent no. 1 to take appropriate steps/action to nationalize all the rivers in the country. b. Issue an appropriate writ order or direction, more particularly a writ in the nature of Mandamus, directing the respondent No. 1 to take appropriate steps/action to inter link the rivers in the southern peninsula namely, Ganga, Kaveri, Vaigai and Tambaravani. c. Issue an appropriate writ order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to formulate a scheme whereby the water from the west flowing rivers could be channelized and equitably distributed."
(2.) THE above directions were sought by the petitioner against the Central Government as well as against various State Governments, for effective management of the water resources in the country by nationalization and inter-linking of rivers from Ganga - Cauveri, Vaigai-Tambaravarmi up to Cape Kumari. According to him, as early as in 1834, Sir Arthur Cotton, who had constructed the Godavari and Krishna dams, suggested a plan called the `Arthur Cotton Scheme' to link the Ganga and Cauveri rivers. In 1930, Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyar also suggested and supported such - a scheme. THEreafter, various political leaders of the country have supported the cause; but no such schemes have actually been implemented. It is the case of the petitioner that the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956 (for short `the Act') and the River Boards Act, 1956 were enacted by the Parliament under Article 262 read with Entry 56 of List-I of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India, 1950 (hereafter, `the Constitution'). Due to reluctance of water-rich States, the National Water Development Agency (hereafter, `NWDA') has not been allowed to undertake detailed survey and it is argued that only by nationalization of the rivers, by the Government of India, this problem can be resolved to some extent. THE petitioner had filed a writ before the High Court of Judicature at Madras, being Writ Petition No. 6207 of 1983, praying for various reliefs. This Writ Petition was disposed of without any effective orders by the High Court. Persisting with his effort, the petitioner earlier filed writ petitions before this Court, being Writ Petition (C) No. 75 of 1998 and Writ Petition (C) No. 15 of - 1999, praying inter alia for nationalized navigation and inter-linking of all the rivers in the country. We must notice, to put the records straight, that on 29th September, 1994, a Bench of this Court took suo motu notice of a write-up that had appeared in the Hindustan Times newspaper, dated 18th July, 1994, titled "And quiet flows the maili Yamuna". Notice was issued to the Central Pollution Control Board, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Irrigation and Flood Department of the Government of India, National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Delhi Administration. Since then, the writ petition is being continuously monitored by this Court, till date. During the pendency of this writ petition, I.A. No. 27 came to be filed, wherein the learned Amicus Curiae in that case referred to the address of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the then President of India, on the eve of the Independence Day. This, inter alia, related to creating a network between various rivers in the country, with a view to deal with the paradoxical situation of floods in one part of the country and droughts in other parts. In other words, it related to the inter-linking of rivers - and taking of other water management measures. On 16th September, 2002, this Court, while considering the said I.A., directed that the application be treated as an independent writ petition and issued notice to the various State Governments as well as the Attorney General for India and passed the following order:- "Based on the speech of the President on the Independence Day Eve relating to the need of networking of the rivers because of the paradoxical phenomenon of flood in one part of the country while some other parts face drought at the same time, the present application is filed. It will be more appropriate to treat to treat it as independent Public Interest Litigation with the cause title "IN RE : NETWORKING OF RIVERS -- v. ---" Amended cause title be filed within a week. Issue notice returnable on 30th September, 2002 to the respondents as well as to the Attorney General. Serve notice on the standing counsel of the respective States. Dasti service, in addition, is permitted." This is how I.A. No. 27 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 725 of 1994 was converted into Writ Petition (Civil) No. 512 of - 2002. The Writ Petition (Civil) No. 512 of 2002 was taken up for hearing and notice was issued to all the States, inviting affidavits regarding their stance on the issue of networking of rivers.
(3.) IN view of the above order, the petitioner in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 668 of 2002 withdrew Writ Petition (C) No. 75 of 1998 as well as Writ Petition (C) 15 of 1999, which leave was granted by this Court. As already discussed above, the petitioner had filed Writ Petition (Civil) No. 668 of 2002 with somewhat similar prayers as contained in I.A. No. 27. In that writ petition, the petitioner has averred that no prayer with regard to inter linking of rivers covering the southern part of the Peninsular Region had been claimed and it was also his contention that the southern part was most drought prone and had been witnessing more inter-state water disputes. Thus, he had filed Writ Petition (Civil) No. 668 of 2002 and prayers made therein were liable to be allowed. -;