A day after Karnataka’s stout refusal to give even a drop of water to Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court on Friday directed both the riparian states to file a small compilation of documents on the Cauvery dispute, on which both the States would like to place reliance.
The compilation should be filed by Saturday, a bench comprising Justices D K Jain and Madan B Lokur said and posted the matter to December 3 for further hearing.
As soon as the hearing commenced, Justice Jain asked the counsel, “Was it a peaceful dialogue or a meaningless negotiation?” referring to the recent meeting of the two Chief Ministers.
To this, senior counsel C S Vaidyanathan, appearing for Tamil Nadu, said many such meetings had been held over Cauvery, but now, the crops in Tamil Nadu were in a miserable condition. Even this single crop was withering away, he told the bench.
Justice Jain asked whether this was a winter crop. The counsel replied that this was the major crop and should be harvested in December. “We need wetting at least for 15 days,” he submitted.
Anil Divan, senior counsel appearing for Karnataka, said that the directions of the Cauvery Monitoring Committee were completely implemented.
Vaidyanathan said, “Now Karnataka is saying that it will find out what is the deficit at the end of January. Earlier, they said that they will calculate at the end of December.” The counsel conceded that some relief was given by the Cauvery River Authority (CRA).
“We’ve invoked My Lords jurisdiction. Please decide today or on Monday, but don’t send us anywhere,” the counsel pleaded with the bench . “Farmers are resorting to suicides,” he pointed out.
At this, Justice Jain said, “We can have it on Monday. You file a compilation of documents on which you rely by Saturday. We’ll read these documents. Both the Advocates-on-Record will sit together. No objection Mr Katarki?” Justice Jain was referring to Mohan V Katarki, the Advocate-on-Record for Karnataka in the case.
“What is your minimum demand?” Justice Jain asked Vaidyanathan. “A minimum of 30 tmcft over a period of 15 days. Otherwise crops will wither away,” the counsel replied. “Measurements will be done at Billigundlu,” he added.