NEW DELHI: The Centre will submit the draft scheme for Cauvery water sharing between four states to the Supreme Court on May 14, said Union Water Resources secretary U P Singh on Thursday.
The Supreme Court had pulled up the Centre on Tuesday stating ‘‘sheer contempt’’ of its verdict by not yet framing the scheme on water sharing between Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry. Singh has been summoned by the apex court on May 14.
“We will be submitting the draft scheme to the court on May 14. It is ready and we will have to seek approval of the competent authority before submitting it to the court,” Singh told Express.
The Centre on Tuesday cited Karnataka elections as one of the reasons in submitting the draft scheme and sought 10 days’ time for giving finishing touch to its draft scheme. The apex court had on February 16 asked the Centre to formulate a scheme to ensure compliance of its judgment on the decades-old Cauvery dispute.
Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have been sparring over the draft scheme with the former demanding setting up of the Cauvery Management Board and Karnataka opposing it. The apex court had asked Karnataka to be ready to release 4 TMC or thousand million cubic feet of water to Tamil Nadu, while the former said it has already released around 16 TMC excess water and will not be able to share more.