( 1 ) THE petitioner, Kachchh Jal Sankat Nivaran Samiti, through its Convener and other Citizens of Kachchh, by way of this Public Interest Litigation voiced grievance as regards the meagre allocation of water from Sardar Sarovar Project by the Government to the District of Kachchh which constitute 1/4th of the total area of the State which is a 100% drought prone district. The locus standi of the petitioners, as indicated in para 3. 1 of the petition makes the petition of a representative character on behalf of the people of Kachchh voicing their grievance as well as the aspirations of the people. To appreciate the grievances of the petitioners, it is necessary to give certain background of the factual aspects.

( 2 ) IN the year 1969, the Government of India constituted a Tribunal named Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal ( hereinafter referred to as nwdt/tribunal) headed by Justice V Ramaswamy, a retired Judge of the Supreme Court to decide the inter-state dispute of sharing water of river-Narmada. On 16. 8. 1978, the tribunal declared its award under section 5 (2) read with section 5 (4) of the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956 (for short, the Act ). Thereafter, references No. 1,2,3,4 and 5 of 1978 were filed by the Union of India and the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan respectively under section 5 (3) of the said Act which were heard by the tribunal and on 7. 12. 1979, gave its final order. The same was published in the Extraordinary Gazette by the Government of India on 12. 12. 1979. In arriving at its final decision, issues regarding allocation of water, height of dam, hydrology and other related issues came to be subjected to comprehensive and thorough examination by the tribunal. Extensive studies were done by the Irrigation Commission and Drought research Unit of India, Meteorological Department in matters of catchment area of Narmada basin, climate, rainfall, variability of rainfall, and the semi-arid zones and scarcity area of Gujarat. The report also suggests that the tribunal also have taken into consideration various technical literature before giving its award.

( 3 ) THE issue of allocation of Narmada waters at Sardar Sarovar Dam site was determined on the basis of 75% dependability at 28 Million Acre Feet (in short, maf), It further ordered that out of the utilisable quantum of Narmada water, the allocation between the Sate should be as under:madhya Pradesh 18. 25 MAF gujarat 9. 00 MAF rajasthan 0. 50 MAF maharashtra 0. 25 MAFAs a result of the award of the tribunal from the Sardar Sarovar Dam and related constructions, the main canal system known as Narmada Main Canal, 458 km long which is to carry away water meant for irrigation and drinking purposes to the canal systems of Gujarat and Rajasthan is constructed. It may be stated at this stage that the State of Gujarat demanded 20. 73 MAF of water out of the total demand of 22. 02 MAF of water before NWDT for total 71. 38 lacs acres area. The demand included 6. 57 MAF of water for reclaiming and/or irrigating 12. 17 lakhs Acres of land of the District of Kachchh for area under zone XI-C, Banni and Ranns. However, the tribunal did not consider the demand of the State of Gujarat for Banni and Ranns of Kachchh on the ground that these areas are barren and sparsely populated and the soil is highly saline having , very low permeability and a vertical permeability of nearly nil, a high ground water table and an impervious layer near the ground water surface, high evaporation and low rainfall. Thus, the tribunal rejected the claim of the State for irrigating 11 lakhs acres in Ranns and Banni areas and granted a limited allocation of 9. 00 MAF of water in favour of the State of Gujarat. The tribunal has, however, given the concerned States choice to utilise the quantity of water falling to their share in their own way.

( 4 ) THE State Government, out of 9 MAF water provided, 7. 94 MAF water diverted or for irrigation and 1.