Bhubaneswar: The Centre has extended the tenure of the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal by nine months, till Jan 2027, even as Odisha and Chhattisgarh plan a chief ministers’ meeting to resolve the dispute amicably, Odisha advocate general Pitambar Acharya said on Saturday.Speaking to reporters in Delhi after attending a tribunal hearing, Acharya said the tribunal had advised the two states to drop issues on which agreements already exist in order to narrow down their differences. He said there has been “remarkable progress” after 13 technical committee meetings held between the two states since June 2025.A joint meeting of the legal, technical and administrative teams of Odisha and Chhattisgarh will be convened soon, he added. “Since it is also a political issue, the chief ministers of both states will meet with the Centre’s intervention,” Acharya said.The tribunal got a third extension. Its tenure, which was scheduled to end on April 13, was extended by the Centre by nine months extension, considering that the post of the chairperson remained vacant for the same period. Justice A M Khanwilkar resigned in March 2024, and Justice Bela M Trivedi took charge in Dec 2024, a notification issued by Jal Shakti ministry on Friday said. The next hearing of the tribunal is scheduled on Jan 20.The tribunal was constituted on March 12, 2018, under Section 4 of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, to adjudicate disputes related to the inter-state river and its valley. It was initially required to submit its report and decision by March 11, 2021.However, the tribunal couldn’t submit its report within the stipulated three-year period and sought an extension, following which its tenure was extended by two years till March 11, 2023. It later requested the Centre to treat the period from March 2020 to June 2021, disrupted due to Covid-19, as a non-functioning period.The tribunal was constituted on March 12, 2018, to adjudicate disputes related to the inter-state river and its valley
