Water disputes tribunal jurisdiction extends to interim applications arising from the referred dispute and urgent continuing injury.

A statutory reference to a water disputes tribunal can include interim applications where the originating complaint itself alleges continuing injury and urgent need for relief. Article 262 and Section 11 of the Inter-State Water Disputes Act exclude court jurisdiction over referred water disputes, but the Supreme Court noted that jurisdiction and the scope of the reference remain open to judicial interpretation. On the facts traced to the State's complaint, the interim directions sought arose from the same referred dispute and were not outside the reference merely because they were styled as miscellaneous applications. The tribunal was therefore required to entertain them and decide them on merits.

---

---

Issues: Whether the applications for interim relief before the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal were within the scope of the reference made by the Central Government and, therefore, maintainable before the Tribunal.

Analysis: Article 262 of the Constitution and Section 11 of the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956 exclude court jurisdiction over referred water disputes, but the Court held that it remains the ultimate interpreter of the statute and of the Tribunal's jurisdiction. The reference made by the Central Government was traced to the Tamil Nadu complaint of 6 July 1986, which complained not only of past and continuing injury caused by Karnataka's executive action but also of immediate and recurring harm requiring urgent redress. On that reading, the reliefs sought in the miscellaneous petitions for interim directions were held to arise from the very dispute referred under Section 5 of the Act and not to be outside it merely because they were styled as interim applications.

Conclusion: The Tribunal erred in holding the interim applications to be not maintainable. The applications were within the scope of the reference and had to be decided on merits.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statutory reference to a water disputes tribunal, read with the originating complaint, encompasses continuing injury and urgent relief arising from the same dispute, the tribunal has jurisdiction to entertain connected interim applications as part of the referred dispute.

---