NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea on Thursday seeking direction to the Centre, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to maintain law and order in the two states.
“Let it be listed tomorrow before the bench which is hearing it,” a bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and A M Khanwilkar said.
Senior advocate Adish Aggarwala, appearing for P Shivakumar, sought urgent hearing of the PIL. He said the states be directed to take prompt action against the protesters and provide security to private and public properties and the citizens of both the states.
Shivakumar, who claims to be a social activist, has sought a direction that the leaders of the protest be held accountable for the damage caused to the properties and be asked to pay up.
On September 12, the apex court modified its earlier order on sharing of Cauvery water and directed Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs instead of 15,000 cusecs per day till September 20 to Tamil Nadu.
The court had rejected Karnataka’s plea seeking placing in abeyance for its earlier order and asked the executives to ensure compliance.
Govt has released 45 tmcft, not 28: HDK
JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy alleged that the state government had released more water to Tamil Nadu than it claimed. Kumaraswamy said on Wednesday that Karnataka had already released nearly 45 tmcft of water even before the September 5 verdict, though it claimed to have released only 28 tmcft. He said the government was relying on Central Water Committee officers who were from the Tamil Nadu cadre. He said that the government had claimed to have 32 tmcft of water in the Cauvery basin, but in reality there was only 18-20 tmcft in the four dams — KRS, Kabini, Harangi and Hemavathi. He also defended his father and party supremo H D Deve Gowda saying that as a former PM, Deve Gowda was concerned about the petition to be heard on October 18. “Hence he said water should be released. There is no disagreement between us,” he said.