'Fali Nariman readying report on legal recourse'

  The state’s legal team is likely to submit its advice on the Mahadayi water dispute in two or three days, based on which the state government will finalise its next step of action, Law Minister T B Jayachandra said on Thursday.

The Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal, in its order on Wednesday, had rejected Karnataka’s plea for an interim award to provide permission to divert 7 tmcft of water from Mahadayi river to improve drinking water supply to the districts of Belagavi, Dharwad and Gadag.

Jayachandra said senior counsel Fali Nariman who heads the state’s legal team is preparing a detailed report on the legal recourse that the government could take.

“Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is abroad and is likely to return in a few days. The legal team’s advice should be ready by then,” Jayachandra said.

He said the date for holding an all-party meeting to discuss the Mahadayi dispute will be decided after Siddaramaiah’s return to Bengaluru.

Minister of State for Mines and Geology Vinay Kulkarni, who is the district incharge minister for Dharwad, said the state government will take all possible steps to ensure the people of North Karnataka get their due share of Mahadayi water.

“It is the duty of the people to ensure justice is done,” he said and appealed to the people to adopt to only peaceful means of protests. “Property belonging to the government and that of common man, who would have toiled hard to procure them, should not be destroyed in the name of protest,” he said.

Kulkarni said the BJP was misleading the people on the Tribunal order. “The Tribunal has only rejected the state’s plea for an interim award. The Tribunal has not pronounced its final award,” he said.