The amended resolution on Mekedatu Dam urging the Centre to constitute a special tribunal under Section 4 of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 was put to vote in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and was passed unanimously by the House on June 19, 2026, Advocate General Vijay Narayan asserted before the Madras High Court on Thursday (July 30, 2026).

Appearing before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan, the A-G, representing the Legislative Assembly Secretary, said, it was Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay who had moved the resolution on the floor of the House urging the Centre to not permit the State of Karnataka to construct the Mekedatu Dam across River Cauvery.

Then, the Leader of the Opposition, Udhayanidhi Stalin, had made a request to include an amendment urging the Centre to also constitute a new tribunal for resolving the dispute between the two States over the proposed construction of the dam. After thanking all members for having spoken in support of the resolution, the Chief Minister had agreed to carry out the amendment to the resolution.

Mr. Vijay had informed the House that a consultation meeting with legal experts was held under his leadership on the Mekedatu Dam issue on May 25, 2026 and that his government was already pursuing legal actions required for setting up a special tribunal for dealing exclusively with the Mekedatu Dam dispute. Therefore, he urged the Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar to include the amendment to the resolution.

After the Chief Minister’s speech, the Speaker had put to vote the amended resolution and declared it to have been passed unanimously by the House since no one, including the AIADMK whip Agri S.S. Krishnamurthy who had filed the present writ petition or his party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, had raised any objections to the amendment at that point of time, the A-G told the Division Bench.

On the other hand, senior counsel S.R. Rajagopal, representing the AIADMK whip, contested the submissions made by the A-G and claimed the amended resolution was never debated at all. The counsel said, the Assembly had debated and unanimously approved only the original resolution circulated to them a day before the Assembly session and not the amendment carried out at the last moment on June 19, 2026.

After hearing the preliminary submissions made by both sides, the judges ordered notices, returnable by August 14, to the Assembly Secretary, the Chief Secretary and the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti. The judges expected all the three respondents to file their counter affidavits to the writ petition, challenging the amended resolution, within two weeks.

Published - July 30, 2026 11:40 pm IST