Tamil Nadu seeks open court hearing on review plea against Karnataka's Mekedatu project

New Delhi: The Tamil Nadu government on Monday urged the Supreme Court to grant an open court hearing on its review plea against the November, 2025 judgment that declined to consider its petition against Karnataka's proposed 'Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir cum Drinking Water project’.

Senior advocate G Umapathy for the Tamil Nadu government mentioned the matter before a bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant.

He said the state has filed an application for open court hearing in the matter.

The bench asked, if it's review petition then it can't be considered like this.

Review petition is considered in judges chambers as per rules through circulation of documents without assistance from the counsel.

The review petition filed by Tamil Nadu in December, 2025 is scheduled to come up for consideration on April 15, 2026 before CJI and Justices K Vinod Chandran and Vipul M Pancholi.

Notably, the Mekadatu project is considered crucial for alleviating the severe water distress and meeting the drinking water needs of millions of residents in the Bengaluru Metropolitan Region.

A three judge bench of then Chief Justice of India B R Gavai and Justices K Vinod Chandran and N V Anjaria had called as premature the application filed by Tamil Nadu against the nod by the Central Water Commission for the preparation of the detailed project report (DPR) in the matter.

Tamil Nadu contended the proposed project would be detrimental for the interests of the farmers of the state, dependent upon the Cauvery river water.

Karnataka on the other hand submitted that in terms of the Supreme Court's 2018 judgment, the state is duty-bound to deliver 177.25 TMC of water to Tamil Nadu and if it is not affected, then they should be able to go ahead with the reservoir project, subject to requisite permissions.

Agreeing to the submission, the bench had then said, "What is being done by the order passed by the CWC is only the preparation of the DPR, that too after taking into consideration the objections of the State of Tamil Nadu, the experts of the CWMA (Cauvery Water Management Authority) and CWRC (Cauvery Water Regulation Committee)."

The bench pointed out that the CWC had further directed that the prior approval of the CWMA and CWRC would be a prerequisite for the consideration of the DPR.

The bench also emphasised, this court time and again reiterated that this court should refrain from areas which are best reserved for experts.

The court also clarified, if the DPR is approved by the CWC, then the State of Tamil Nadu would be free to take such steps as permissible in law.

Karnataka claimed the project is of vital importance to regulate monthly stipulated releases to Tamil Nadu in a normal year at Biligundlu in accordance with the final order of Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal as modified by the judgment of the Supreme court on February 16, 2018.

It is important to utilise 4.75 TMC (consumptive use) of water for meeting the drinking water needs of Bangalore Metropolitan Region as allocated by this court, the state claimed.