Process to set up Cauvery management board begins

Water ministry will table gazette in House but no discussion is allowed

With the notification process on Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal final award over, the Union Ministry of Water Resources has started the process of setting up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB).

The notification, which was published in Gazette on Tuesday, is the same the tribunal’s award and the ministry will set up new institutions for its execution, a senior official told Deccan Herald.

The Inter State Water Dispute Act, 1956, will not permit the ministry to modify the award and it has to be notified as it is, the official added.

As the tribunal's award will come into effect within 90 days of its notification (February 19), the early setting up the CMB was important to enable it to make preparation to implement the award as per the schedule, he said.

The ministry will table a copy of the notification in Parliament as it is mandatory under the 6A(7) of the Interstate Water Dispute Act 1956 like any gazette notifications by any ministry. However, there will not be any discussion or any voting on this notification in the House.

If any member wants to make any suggestion on the notification when it was tabled, he/she can do so with the permission of the chair. But it is up to the chair’s discretion whether to allow  the member to make the suggestion or not. Even accepting the suggestions from the members is not binding on the government.

Headquarters location

The board, which will function under the direct supervision of the ministry, can decide the location of its headquarters in consultation with Cauvery basin states.

The board it self can constitute the sub-group, Cauvery Regulation Committee. Both the board and committee will have members from all riparian states. The Centre will release Rs 2 crore as initial contribution for the functioning of the board, to be reimbursed by  the Cauvery basin states. Out of total capital, revenue expenditure of the board should be borne by Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the ratio of 15:40:40:5 respectively.

“Six members should be present for the quorum of the board meeting and the concurrence of the majority shall be necessary for the transaction of the business except such business as the board may from time to time prescribe as routine. Members shall have equal voting powers except its member secretary” sources said.

TN parties hail notification of award

The notification of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s (CWDT) final award by the Centre on Wednesday was unanimously hailed by all political parties in Tamil Nadu even as Chief Minister J Jayalalitha hoped that the award would be honoured by Karnataka, reports DHNS from Chennai.

“Our efforts have not gone in vain...finally, after 22 long years, we have got justice,” a visibly happy Jayalalitha told a news conference at the Secretariat here, shortly after the state government got a copy of the Gazette from New Delhi.

“Personally, this is the happiest day of my life and even more, the happiest day for the farmers in Tamil Nadu,” she said.

DMK president and former chief minister M Karunanidhi thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Centre and the Supreme Court for bringing happiness in the life of Tamil Nadu farmers.

Congress leaders and workers joined the leaders of all the other political parties, including PMK chief S Ramadoss, in celebrating the occasion.