New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Centre to form an inter-state river water disputes tribunal within a month to resolve the issue of sharing Mahanadi waters between Odisha and Chhattisgarh governments.

The SC direction came in the context of Chhattisgarh's move to build irrigation projects on the river. The order is being seen as a victory for Odisha which had been demanding a tribunal to settle the row.

The bench of Justice S.A. Bobde and Justice L. Nageswara Rao rejected the plea of additional solicitor general A.N.S. Nadkarni, appearing for the Centre, to grant two weeks more time to the government for a fresh effort to resolve the issue within the "negotiation committee" instead of setting up a tribunal.

However, senior advocate and former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Odisha, opposed the plea, saying the Union minister for water resources on the floor of Parliament earlier stated that the committee had failed to sort out the issue and that the Union cabinet would soon set up a tribunal to settle the dispute between the two states.

The bench said the Centre must issue the notification within a month for setting up the special tribunal to decide the row between the two states. At the last hearing, the apex court had pulled up the Centre for frequently shifting its stance on the issue.

The Centre had earlier filed a statement in the court assuring it of setting up a tribunal.

But subsequently in December last year, the Union government went back on the assurance and said it intended to make a fresh attempt at resolving the dispute within the negotiation committee.

Odisha had last year filed a petition in the apex court seeking the setting up of a tribunal as it is aggrieved by Chhattisgarh's reported move to build over a dozen irrigation projects across the Mahanadi.