In Brief
The Supreme Court held that appeals by special leave under Article 136 against the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal's final order are maintainable. While Article 262(2) read with Section 11 of the 1956 Act excludes the Court's jurisdiction over original water disputes at the pre-adjudicatory stage, once a dispute is adjudicated it ceases to be a 'dispute' within that meaning. Section 6(2)—which grants the tribunal's award the force of a Supreme Court decree—creates a legal fiction limited to making the award binding and enforceable, not to ousting appellate jurisdiction. Article 136 vests the Supreme Court with plenary appellate power over all tribunals that cannot be curtailed by ordinary statute. The Court accordingly held the civil appeals maintainable and continued interim orders pending final hearing."/> </invoke>
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