NEW DELHI: In the ongoing Cauvery battle, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed Karnataka to release 2,000 cusecs of water per day to Tamil Nadu from October 7 to 18. The court also put on hold its order asking the Centre to set up the Cauvery Management Board till October 18.
The court directed the Supervisory Committee, headed by GS Jha, to inspect the Cauvery basin and submit a ground report by October 17.
Senior advocate Fali S Nariman informed the bench that the State had complied with the Supreme Court order and released 17.5TMC of water from September 5 to 30. It also said that it would release another 3.1TMC of water till October 6. Nariman told the court that he had appeared again for Karnataka as the State had complied with the SC order.
Countering Karnataka’s submissions, Tamil Nadu said that the State still has a deficit of 4.6TMC of water and that Karnataka should have released more than what it is doing now.
“There is no change of heart by Karnataka, it is only a change in strategy,”said Shekhar Naphade, representing Tamil Nadu, adding that the Union of India was playing in their hands and there is much more to it than what meets the eye.
After a detailed hearing, the bench also deferred the orders for setting up of the Water Board as the Attorney General said the civil appeals against the Cauvery Tribunal’s recommendations was pending and listed it for hearing on October18.
The court was hearing the case after Centre filed an interim plea on Monday to mody orders seeking the formation of the Cauvery Board.
Water board on hold
In a setback for TN, the SC put the Cauvery Water Board on hold. The matter will now be heard on Oct 18
Centre told SC that the formation of the Board, as per the law, has to go to Parliament
The court setup a technical panel headed by the Chairman of Central Water Commission to visit both states and submit a report
TN also alleged that the Centre was playing in to the hands of Karnataka