Adjudication of disputes relating to waters of inter-State rivers or river valleys

Article 262, Constitution of India 1950

(1) Parliament may by law provide for the adjudication of any dispute or complaint with respect to the use, distribution or control of the waters of, or in, any inter-State river or river valley.

⁠(2) Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, Parliament may by law provide that neither the Supreme Court nor any other court shall exercise jurisdiction in respect of any such dispute or complaint as is referred to in clause (1).

Draft Article 242A (Article 262, Constitution of India 1950) was debated on 9 September 1949. It deals with the disputes relating to inter-state rivers and river bodies.

The provision was not a part of the Draft Constitution of India, 1948. Initially, draft Articles 239-241 permitted the President to appoint a commission for dealing with disputes on inter-state rivers after receiving a compliant from a State. The Drafting Committee proposed to insert this Draft Article to provide a permanent solution to such issues instead of appointing ad-hoc bodies.

Draft Article 242A:

(1) Parliament may by law provide for the adjudication of any dispute or complaint with respect to the use, distribution or control of the waters of, or in, any inter-State river or river valley.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution, Parliament may, by law, provide that neither the Supreme Court nor any other court shall exercise jurisdiction in respect of any such dispute or complaint as is referred to in clause (1) of this article.’ 

The proposed Draft Article empowered the Union Parliament to adjudicate  inter-state water disputes. Further, it permitted the Union Parliament to make a law to prevent the Supreme Court from dealing with such disputes.

A member urged that such power should be vested with the President and not the Union Parliament. There was no further discussion on this proposal.

Draft Article 242A was adopted on 9 September 1949.