Citizens can't become law 'unto themselves', SC on Cauvery row

"Citizens cannot become law unto themselves," the Supreme Court today said while asking the Executives to comply its orders in "letter and spirit" as concept of "deviancy" and "disobedience" has no room.

The apex court was irked over the contention of Karnataka that the "law and order" situation and state-wide protests led it to file the fresh plea seeking to keep in abeyance the September 5 order that had asked it to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to Tamil Nadu till September 16.

"An order of this court has to be complied with by all concerned and it is the obligation of the Executive to see that the order is complied with in letter and spirit. Concept of deviancy has no room; and disobedience has no space," a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and U U Lalit said.

The court modified its order asking Karnataka to release 12000 cusecs of water per day to Tamil Nadi till September 20, 2016.

It said when a court of law passes an order, it is the "sacred" duty of citizens to obey it and if there is any grievance, they are obliged to take permissible legal recourse.

Terming the "law and order" ground taken by Karnataka as "absolutely disturbing" and "totally deprecable", it said that the averments in the application "cannot be conceived of to be filed in a court of law".

"Agitation in spontaneity or propelled by some motivation or galvanized by any kind of catalystic component, can never form the foundation for seeking modification of an order," the bench said.

The Karnataka government, in its plea, said the application for modification of the September 5 order is "necessitated due to the spontaneous agitations" in the various parts of Karnataka including Bangalore, Mandya, Mysore and Hassan in the Cauvery basin and these have paralysed normal life, besides causing destruction of public and private properties.

"We expect the inhabitants of both the states, namely, the state of Karnataka and state of Tamil Nadu, shall behave regard being had to the respect for law and order and the executive of both the states are under the constitutional obligation to see that the law and order prevails," it said.