NEW DELHI, 14 Jun: Pending in the Rajya Sabha since 2019 following its passage in the Lower House, a bill which sought to address the adjudication of disputes concerning interstate rivers and river valleys has lapsed following the dissolution of 17th Lok Sabha.
Bills passed by the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha or those passed by the Rajya Sabha and pending in the Lok Sabha lapse after the Lower House is dissolved. However, bills introduced and pending in the Rajya Sabha do not lapse.
A Rajya Sabha bulletin issued on Thursday said, “The Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2019′, passed by Lok Sabha and pending in Rajya Sabha, has lapsed under Clause (5) of Article 107 of the Constitution, following the dissolution of 17th Lok Sabha.”
The amendment bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 25 July, 2019, by the then Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
The bill sought to amend the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, which addresses the adjudication of disputes concerning interstate rivers and river valleys.
According to the original Act, a state government could request the central government to refer an interstate river dispute to a tribunal for adjudication.
If the central government believed that the dispute could not be resolved through negotiations, it was required to establish a water disputes tribunal within a year of receiving the complaint. The 2019 bill proposes to replace this mechanism.
Under the amendment bill, when a state raises a water dispute, the central government will form a disputes resolution committee (DRC) to attempt to resolve the issue amicably. The DRC will be composed of a chairperson and experts with at least 15 years of experience in relevant sectors, nominated by the central government.
Additionally, it will include one member from each state involved in the dispute, at the joint secretary level, nominated by the respective state governments.
Separately, two private member bills moved in the Rajya Sabha have been removed from the list of pending private members’ bills as while one of the members Ram Nath Thakur has been inducted in the union council of ministers and Biplab Deb has been elected to the Lok Sabha and ceases to represent the Upper House.
Earlier, another bill, which aimed to bring uniformity in the age of marriage for men and women, had lapsed as it was pending in the Lok Sabha since its introduction in December 2021.
The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2021 and was referred to the standing committee on education, women, children, youth and sports. (PTI)