JOIN USKarnataka has urged the Centre to convene a meeting of four affected states to determine if it is required to set up the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Regulatory Authority on the ground that they “go beyond the necessity and seriously intrude into authority of the state given in the Constitution.”
“The Cauvery River Authority and Cauvery Monitoring Committee are competent to implement the final award and decision of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal published on February 19,” the State claimed.
In a letter to Union Minister Harish Rawat, Karnataka’s Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai said, the Tribunal has recommended constitution of the Cauvery Management Board but that does not partake the character of a mandatory direction.
Functions of authority
“Regulatory authority and implementing authority are not a part of the decision of the Tribunal. The Central government is free to decide on the question what should be the nature and functions of the Regulatory Authority and Implementing Authority,” he contended.
Bommai sought direction for holding of meeting of chief secretaries of four river basin states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry to decide if the Cauvery River Authority and Cauvery Monitoring Authority set up in 1998 were competent to implement the final decision of the Tribunal and, if not, then what should be the nature and function of regulatory and implementing authorities to be established under the statute.