Examining the Competent Authority for the Sale of Abandoned Riverbeds Located within the Legal Limits and Protection Boundaries of the Cities to Merge with the Adjacent Properties

The purpose of conducting this research is to find out whether the selling authority of the abandoned streams within the legal boundaries and the protection zone of the cities lies with the Ministry of Energy or the municipality. So that the owners of the properties adjacent to the abandoned creeks know from which of these authorities they should buy the bed of the abandoned creek in order to combine it with their property. In this research, which was carried out in a descriptive-analytical way and with a library method, referring to the available sources in this field, it was concluded that the beds of abandoned natural streams that will not be used in the future and are within the legal and privacy limits of the protection of the cities and the abandoned unnatural streams that are located in this area can be sold by the municipality to the owners of the adjacent properties in order to merge with that property, based on Note 6 of Article 96 of the Municipal Law, and Article 2 of the Law on Fair Water Distribution, does not have the power to override Note 6 of Article 96. However, if the natural stream is registered by the Ministry of Energy, its subsequent abandonment has no effect on the matter, and in any case, the municipality will not be able to sell such a stream in terms of registration in the name of the Ministry of Energy on behalf of the government.