SC judge Abhay Manohar Sapre new Cauvery Tribunal chairman

Supreme Court Judge Abhay Manohar Sapre has been appointed as the chairman of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT), which was headless for nearly a year.

The post remained vacant after Justice B S Chauhan, currently the Law Commission chairman, resigned in March last year.

The CWDT was constituted by the Centre in 1990 to adjudicate the water dispute regarding the inter-state Cauvery river which has Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry as basin states.

"A decision to appoint Justice Sapre as the tribunal chairman was taken on February 16. He was nominated by Chief Justice of India Jagdish Singh Khehar. The Union Water Resources Secretary, Amarjit Singh, communicated this to the President's office on that day," sources in the ministry said.

N S Rao and Justice Agrawal are the other two members of the tribunal.

According to sources, Justice Sapre's appointment will mean the Supreme Court, which has been hearing several cases pertaining to the dispute over sharing of water, particularly between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, can now direct any matter if need be to the tribunal.

Born on August 28, 1954, Sapre had assumed charge of Supreme Court Judge on August 13, 2014 and will retire on August 27, 2019.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)