NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday told the Tamil Nadu government that it can raise its grievance before the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) over Karnataka’s failure to release its proportionate share of Cauvery water.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta was hearing the TN government’s appeal seeking directions to Karnataka for promptly releasing its due share of water.
Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) had directed Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu for 15 days from August 12. CWMA subsequently upheld the decision. The bench made the observation after senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan, appearing for Tamil Nadu, said that the state had not received its due share of water. “We have to receive the proportionate share of water. Unfortunately, that is not happening,” Vaidyanathan told the bench.
When he argued that the CWMA was not directing Karnataka to release TN’s proportionate share of water, the bench said the state can raise the issue before the authority.
During the hearing, the bench told TN’s counsel that on the last date of hearing, the Karnataka government had placed before it a chart giving details of the water released. The bench observed that as per the chart, water was released to Tamil Nadu as per the CWMA’s direction.
After a brief hearing, the bench posted the matter for August 31 and asked both parties to come up with an updated status, as the CWMA was set to meet today and tomorrow to decide on the next course of action over Karnataka’s alleged failure to comply with its direction.
Meanwhile, the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee had recommended on Monday that Karnataka release 9,000 cusecs of water per second to TN for the next 15 days.
The 56th meeting of the Cauvery Water Management Authority is scheduled to take place in Delhi tomorrow. During this meeting, CWMA will issue a final decision and order on the quantum of water that Karnataka must release to Tamil Nadu.