Cauvery dispute: TN files contempt petition against Centre

Tamil Nadu on Saturday filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court on Saturday for claiming that the Centre failed to constitute a Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and a Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC).

"Initiate contempt proceedings against respondents (the Central Government) for willful disobedience in carrying out clear mandate set out in para 403 of the judgement passed by the honourable court dated 16-02-2018," Tamil Nadu's contempt plea said.

Tamil Nadu said that "the Central Government was bound to give effect to the judgement by framing a scheme so that the authorities under the scheme are put in place within six weeks and the decision of the Tribunal as modified by this Hon'ble court is implemented."

The Centre has not taken any concrete steps in this regard, the contempt plea said.

The apex court on February 16, directed the Centre to frame "a scheme" under Section 6A of the Interstate Water Disputes Act, 1956 (Amended Act of 1980), for implementation of the modified  Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal (CWDT) final order in six weeks.

The six-week deadline was over on March 29.

All the four Cauvery basin states have differences of opinion on setting up the "scheme" as per the Supreme Court order.

While Karnataka said the Centre should set up a  Cauvery  Decision Implementation Committee headed by the Union water resources minister, Tamil Nadu demanded that the  Cauvery  Management Board should be formed as explained in the final order of the CWDT.