Release water to Tamil Nadu as directed, Supreme Court tells Karnataka

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday (August 17) asked the Karnataka government to ensure compliance of the Cauvery Water Management Authority’s (CWMA) directive on the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.

While the Tamil Nadu government claimed before the apex court that the CWMA’s directive was not being complied with, the Karnataka government said the picture being projected was “extremely incorrect”.

The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) had directed Karnataka to release 1 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of water daily to Tamil Nadu for 15 days from August 12. The CWMA subsequently upheld the decision.

On Monday, the Tamil Nadu government’s plea seeking directives to the Karnataka government for the immediate release of water came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta.

“We feel this matter should be posted after a week so that the further status regarding the release may be placed before the court,” the bench said, posting the matter for August 24. “Ensure compliance of the CWMA directives,” the bench said.

Senior advocate CS Vaidyanathan, appearing for Tamil Nadu, told the bench that the CWMA’s directive was not being complied with and the state was unable to release water to its farmers.

“They (Karnataka) have started releasing water for irrigation in Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu has not been receiving water,” he said. “As of now, they have 76% live storage in the reservoir and they have hardly released,” he added.

The bench then asked the Karnataka government, “Why are you not releasing?”

Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Karnataka, replied that the picture being projected before it was “extremely incorrect in every material respect”.

“This has been an extremely severe distress year, and when you have an extremely severe distress year, there is a mechanism and a machinery for the purposes of balancing,” he said.

As far as the Cauvery basin is concerned, Divan said, there is an enormous deficit, and the CWMA is alive to the situation and has issued directives. According to the first directive, Karnataka was required to ensure the release of 3,500 cusecs of water for 15 days till August 11, he said.