Chapter III POWERS, FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES OF THE AUTHORITY

The Authority shall exercise the following powers and perform the following functions, namely :- 1[(a) to determine the criteria for the distribution of Entitlements by the River Basin Agencies, within each Category of Use, on such terms and conditions as may be prescribed, after sectoral allocation is made under section 16A;]

1. (b) to enforce the decisions or orders issued under this Act;
2. (c) to determine the priority of equitable distribution of water available at the water resource project, sub-basin and river basin levels during periods of scarcity;
3. (d) to establish a water tariff system, and to fix the criteria for water charges at sub-basin, river basin and State level after ascertaining the views of the beneficiary public, based on the principle that the water charges shall reflect the full recovery of the cost of the irrigation management, administration, operation and maintenance of water resource project;
4. (e) to administer and manage inter-state water resources apportionment on river systems, of the State;
5. (f) to review and clear water resources projects proposed at the sub-basin and river basin level to ensure that a proposal is in conformity with integrated State Water Plan and also with regard to the economic, hydrologic and environmental viability and where relevant, on the State's obligations under Tribunals, Agreements, or Decrees involving inter-state Entitlements : Provided that, while clearing the new water resources projects by the concerned for construction proposed by River Basin Agencies, the Authority shall ensure that Governor's Directives issued from time to time, relating to investment priority for removal of regional imbalance are strictly observed : Provided further that, in respect of the projects situated in Marathwada and Vidarbha Regions, the powers to accord administrative approval, or revised administrative approval under this clause, shall in accordance with the Governor's directives, be exercised by the concerned River Basin Agency;
6. (g) to lay down the criteria and monitor the issuance of Entitlements. These criteria among others shall also include the following,-
   • (i) the Entitlements shall be issued by River Basin Agency based on the Category of Use and subject to the priority assigned to such use under the State Water Policy;
   • (ii) Bulk Water Entitlements shall be issued by the River Basin Agency for irrigation water supply, rural water supply, municipal water supply or industrial water supply to the relevant Water User Entities including Municipalities, Water User's Associations, Industrial Users and State agencies responsible for delivery to the respective sector or to a sub-surface Water User's Association or entity that operates a well field of multiple sub-surface water, tube wells, bore wells or other wells on behalf of multiple users;
   • (iii) Bulk Water Entitlements for irrigation, shall be issued by River Basin Agency, to the Water User's Associations at the primary unit level, Distributary level and Canal or Project level Associations and River Basin Agencies shall not receive Entitlements but shall act as conveyance entities for the Entitlements issued to the Water User's Associations;
   • (iv) Water User Entities including Water User's Associations managing the aggregate of Entitlements on behalf of a group of Entitlement holders may be issued an Aggregate Bulk Entitlement;
   • (v) Individual Water Entitlements may be issued by River Basin Agency only for the construction and operation of individual lift irrigation schemes from surface water sources, bore wells, tube wells or other facilities for extraction of sub-surface water. Such Entitlements shall be administered, registered, measured and monitored by the respective River Basin Agency in close co-ordination with relevant Government agencies. Where such facilities extract water from alluvial aquifers that are conjunctive with the surface water of a basin, the issuance and operation of such Entitlements shall be conjunctively co-ordinated with the use and yield of surface water resources of the basin and shall be compatible with the overall water-resource plan of the local area and the respective river basin and the sustainable use of the subsurface water resources;
   • (vi) Bulk Water Entitlements shall be for a specific proportion of flow, storage or other determination of the annual yield of a water resource or facility and the Entitlement shall be measured volumetrically and with respect to time of delivery and flow rate of delivery;
   • (viii) the allocation of a percentage of the water available under the Entitlements of each facility, in the drainage basin or river basin shall be determined jointly by the River Basin Agencies and Water User Entities based upon the hydrology and other relevant parameters with regard to the specific basin. This allocation shall be utilised for the determination of the amount of water to be made available under each Entitlement for that specific year or runoff season;
7. (h) to lay down the criteria for modification in Entitlements for the diversion, storage and use of the surface and sub-surface waters of the State. These criteria shall among others, include the following:-
   • (i) Aggregate Bulk Water Entitlements will be considered as Bulk Water Entitlements under the provisions of this Act except that they shall not be a usufructuary right and will only be adjusted by the Authority if there is a compensating change, under the provisions of this Act, to any component Bulk Water Entitlement that comprise part of the Aggregate Bulk Water Entitlement;
   • (ii) in the event that any Water User Entity wishes to use its category priority to mandate a change in the use or volume of any Entitlement, that entity shall demonstrate in a public hearing before the Authority, that it has exhausted all attempts to conserve, increase efficiency and manage its demand of water within its, Entitlement and has exhausted all opportunities to increase its Entitlement through a transfer within the voluntary, market based economy. If, after such a public hearing, the Authority deems such a mandated transfer, on either an annual or permanent basis, to be legal and necessary in the interest of the people of the State, the Authority shall then determine a fair and just compensation as determined by the market value of the water resource, to be paid to the Entitlement holder by the entity exercising the mandated user category preference;
   • (i) to fix the criteria for trading of water Entitlements or Quotas on the annual or seasonal basis by a water Entitlement holder. These criteria shall among others, include the following,-
   • (i) Entitlements, except Aggregate Bulk Water Entitlements are deemed to be usufructuary rights which may be transferred, bartered, bought or sold on annual or seasonal basis within a market system and as regulated and controlled by the Authority as established in the rules of the Authority;
   • (ii) Quotas of water determined by the seasonal or annual allocation assigned to an Entitlement shall be volumetric usufructuary rights which may be transferred, bartered, bought or sold on an annual or seasonal basis within a market system as established and controlled by the rules of the Authority;
   • (iii) Bulk Water Entitlements or Quotas shall be transferable within the respective category of use as long as such transfers are compatible with the operation of the specific water resource facilities involved. Such annual transfers shall be managed and registered with the respective River Basin Agency which shall have the power to approve or deny such proposed transfers if they are incompatible with the operation of the facility or would damage the Entitlements or rights of other users within the system. The River Basin Agency may charge a nominal fee for the processing and registering such transfer but shall not participate in any compensation between Entitlement holders as a part of such transfer.
8. (j) Entitlement may be subject to review at intervals of not less than three years and then only if warranted by concerns about, the sustainability of the level of allocation;
9. (k) Bulk Water Entitlements shall be registered by the River Basin Agency and shall be monitored by the Authority or its duly delegated competent representative;
10. (l) permanent transfer of Entitlements shall only be made with the approval of the respective River Basin Agency and the Authority and in compliance with the rules of the Authority promulgated for this purpose. All approved transfers shall be entered into the registry of Entitlements of the Authority;
11. (m) in the event of water scarcity, the Authority, in compliance with its policy and rules for allocating such scarcity, shall adjust the quantities of water to be made available to all Entitlements and shall permit the temporary transfer of Water Entitlements between users and Categories of Users in accordance with the approval of the River Basin Agencies; 2* * * * 3[(o) to establish a system of enforcement of the Entitlements issued by the concerned River Basin Agency to various Categories of Use and its regulation, through measurement and monitoring, with a view to ensure that the actual use of water, both in quantity and type of use, are in compliance with the Entitlements issued;]
12. (p) to administer the use and Entitlement of water resources within the State in a manner consistent with the State Water Policy to ensure the compliance of the obligation of State with regard to the apportionment of inter-state waters between the State and other States;
13. (q) to promote efficient use of water and to minimize the wastage of water and to fix reasonable use criteria for each Category of Use;
14. (r) to determine and ensure that cross-subsidies between Categories of Use, if any, being given by the Government are totally offset by stable funding from such cross-subsidies or Government payments to assure that the sustainable operation and maintenance of the water management and delivery systems within the State are not jeopardised in any way;
15. (s) to develop the State Water Entitlement data base that shall clearly record all Entitlements issued for the use of water within the State, any transfers of Entitlements and a record of deliveries and uses made as a result of those Entitlements;
16. (t) to facilitate and ensure development, maintenance and dissemination, of a comprehensive hydro-meteorological information data base in co-operation with the River Basin Agencies;
17. (u) the Authority shall review and revise, the water charges after every three years;
    • (v) The Authority may ensure that the Irrigation Status Report is published by the Government every year. Such report shall contain all statistical data relating to irrigation including details in respect of district-wise irrigation potential created and its actual utilisation;
18. (w) such other powers, functions and duties as may be prescribed.

1. (1) The Authority shall work according to the framework of the State Water Policy.
2. (2) The Authority shall, recognise the policy of empowering River Basin Agencies in accordance with the State Water Policy.
3. (3) The Authority shall, in accordance with the State Water Policy, co-ordinate with all relevant State agencies to implement a comprehensive hydro-meteorological data system for the State.
4. (4) The Authority shall, in accordance with State Water Policy, promote and implement sound water conservation and management practices throughout the State.
5. (5) The Authority shall support and aid the enhancement, and preservation of water quality within the State in close co-ordination with the relevant State agencies and in doing so the principle that 'the person who pollutes shall pay' shall be follow.
6. (6) The Authority shall fix the Quota at project level, sub-basin level, basin level on the basis of the following principles :-
   • (a) for equitable distribution of water in the command area of the project, every landholder in the command area shall be given Quota;
   • (b) the Quota shall be fixed on the basis of the land in the command area : Provided that, during the water scarcity period each landholder shall, as far as possible, be given Quota adequate to irrigate at least one Acre of land;
   • (c) in order to share the distress in the river basin or sub-basin equitably, the water stored in the reservoirs in the basin or sub-basin, as the case may be, shall be controlled by the end of October every year in such way that, the percentage of utilizable water, including Kharif use, shall, for all reservoirs approximately be the same;
   • (d) subject to the condition of efficient use of water, the existing private sector lift irrigation management schemes shall be allowed to continue for a period of five years from the date of commencement of this Act and thereafter on the date that may be specified by the Government the provisions of sub-section (4) of section 14 shall apply : Provided that, having regard to geographical conditions, different dates may be notified for different areas;
   • (e) the command area of private lift Irrigation schemes, existing on the date of commencement of this Act, shall be treated at par with the notified command area of the irrigation projects.
7. (7) The Authority shall ensure that the principle of "tail to head" irrigation is implemented by the River Basin Agency.
8. (8) The Authority shall abide by the relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Ground Water Regulation (Drinking Water Purposes) Act, 1993 (Mah. XXVIII of 1993).
9. (9) The Authority shall while framing policy, give preference to the projects so that, the physical backlog forming the basis of the financial backlog be eradicated in accordance with the Governor's directives.
10. (10) (a) The Authority shall strive to make the water available to the drought prone areas of the State;
    • (b) The Authority shall ensure that, the funds made available to a drought prone district are spent preferably in the areas, where irrigation facilities are less than the other areas of that district.
11. (11) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, a person having more than two children shall be required to pay one and half times of the normal rates of water charges fixed under clause (d) of section 11 to get entitlement of water for the purpose of agriculture : Provided that, a person having more than two children on the date of commencement of this Act, shall not be required to pay such one and half times water charges so long as the number of children he had on such date of commencement does not increase : Provided further that, a child or more than one child born in a single delivery within the period of one year from such date of commencement, shall not be taken into consideration for the purpose of this sub-section. Explanation.- For the purposes of this sub-section,-
    • (a) Where a couple has only one child on or after the date of such commencement, any number of children born out of a single subsequent delivery shall be deemed to be one entity;
    • (b) "child" does not include an adopted child or children.

The Authority and the Dispute Resolution Officer shall for the purposes of making any inquiry or initiating any proceedings under this Act, have the powers as are vested in a civil court, under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) in respect of the following matters, namely :-

1. (a) the summoning and enforcing the attendance of any witness and examining him on oath;
2. (b) the discovery and production of any document or other material object producible as evidence;
3. (c) the reception of evidence on affidavits;
4. (d) the requisition of any public record;
5. (e) the issue of commission for examination of witnesses;
6. (f) review its decisions, directions and orders;
7. (g) any other matter which may be prescribed.