New Delhi: Two judges of the Supreme Court on Wednesday recused themselves from hearing a matter connected with the sharing and use of Pennaiyar river water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. A two-judge bench of the court observed that they cannot hear the case or they may start fighting with each other.

A bench comprising justices A S Bopanna and M M Sundresh said the judges will recuse from the hearing regarding the original suit filed by Tamil Nadu. After the bench took up the matter for hearing, the judges on the bench said that they cannot hear the matter or they may start fighting with each other. The bench said, "We both cannot hear this”. Justice Bopanna hails from Karnataka and Justice Sundresh from Tamil Nadu.

On Tuesday, the Centre, in an affidavit submitted before the apex court, said: “That in order to constitute a Tribunal, a proposal for formation of Pennaiyar Water Dispute Tribunal under the relevant section of the Inter State Water Dispute Act, 1956 has been submitted to Cabinet Secretariat for consideration and approval of Union Cabinet. It is submitted that the Union Cabinet is yet to take a final decision in the matter.”.

In May 2023, the apex court had granted further one month time to constitute the Pennaiyar Water Disputes Tribunal and for issuing a gazette notification for it. Tamil Nadu’s plea claimed that the rights and interest of the state in the river Pennaiyar and its tributaries have been prejudicially affected by Karnataka's executive action by its various works, and claimed that it was in violation of 1892 and 1933 agreements.

In November 2019, the apex court permitted the Tamil Nadu government to invoke the powers of the Centre in terms of the provisions of the Inter-State Water Disputes Act and seek setting up of a tribunal on the sharing of water dispute.