JOIN USRelease 9k cusecs water daily until Oct 15: SC to State
The Supreme Court on Friday told the Karnataka government to comply with the direction of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) headed by the prime minister, asking it to release 9,000 cusecs of water for Tamil Nadu every day till October 15.
A bench of justices D K Jain and Madan B Lokur expressed its annoyance over the stand taken by the State before the CRA headed by the prime minister on September 19 after counsel representing Tamil Nadu submitted that it was a helpless situation.
“The CRA is headed by the prime minister. He is the highest executive. Nobody is ready to listen. A minister from Karnataka says that they cannot follow it (direction of CRA). It is unfortunate. This is the order passed by a committee headed by the prime minister. Have we reached to that state? This is not done. We direct you to follow the order of the CRA,” the Bench told counsel appearing for Karnataka.
The apex court was hearing an application filed by Tamil Nadu seeking direction to Karnataka to release 2 TMC ft of water at the Mettur reservoir during the current year.
Senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan, appearing for Tamil Nadu, submitted that it was a failure of the constitutional machinery as Karnataka had refused to follow the direction of the CRA.
As the court asked him what should be done in case Karnataka declined to comply with the direction of the CRA, counsel said that the Union government may be directed to protect the interest of the state under Article 355 of the Constitution.
He went on to submit that the Army may be deployed in Karnataka to comply with the order of the Cauvery River Authority.
Distress-sharing formula
Vaidyanathan said the CRA had not discussed the distress-sharing forumula, which would have helped Tamil Nadu to get 40-45 TMC ft of water.
Advocate V N Raghupathy, appearing for Karnataka, submitted that the State had filed an appeal against the order of the CRA.
“We could understand if you had said that you have some difficulty in following the order. But to say that we will not follow the order is not acceptable,” the Bench observed.
The Bench issued notice to Karnataka seeking its response to the Tamil Nadu’s application and asked it to comply with the direction of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA).
Karnataka on September 10 agreed before the Supreme Court to release 10,000 cusecs of water at Billigundulu for Tamil Nadu from the Cauvery river as a goodwill gesture.
The concession by Karnataka was made as an interim measure only. The water flow was raised from 7,400 cusecs to 10,000 cusecs from September 12 to 20.
However, Karnataka walked out of the meeting of the CRA on September 19 saying that it was not in a position to grant further release of water. Karnataka had already filed a plea before the CRA for review of the direction for release of 9,000 cusecs per day.
No senior advocate appeared on behalf of Karnataka during the hearing. Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar did not react when this was brought to his notice.
Floor leaders to meet today
The State government has convened a meeting of floor leaders of political parties in the legislature for Saturday, following the Supreme Court order, reports DHNS from Bangalore.
Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and S R Patil, JD (S) leaders H D Revanna, M C Nanaiah and several Cabinet ministers will attend the meeting at the chief minister’s home office
“Krishna” at 11 am.