State’s contempt plea in Supreme Court will prolong Cauvery dispute case, feel senior officials

At a time when the BJP leaders including Tamilisai Soundararajan and H Raja are indicating that the state has to wait till Karnataka elections, such a prayer would favour the Delta farmers whose livelihood depends on Cauvery water and would strengthen the state’s case against the Centre which had not honoured the verdict, sources in the government said. 

While hearing the Cauvery dispute case, the apex court had already expressed its views that it has all powers to order the Centre to form the CMB. Bearing this in mind, the state is expected to stress the apex court itself to implement the orders on the lines of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT). 

“Since the state has already decided to file a contempt plea in tune with the legal advice from its Supreme Court counsel, it can incorporate its demand as part of the prayer. If the contempt plea comes up for hearing, the Court might order notice returnable in a minimum period of four-weeks for Centre’s response and by then one month would be lapsed post SC issued deadline,” an official pointed out. 

Sources said that the Centre can seek adjournment citing that it had already notified the preliminary works to implement the orders. The Centre would project its records on file relating to the implementation of the order.

“They would use the communication already sent to all Cauvery basin states and the subsequent meeting which the Water Resources Department Secretary had called for. They would also submit the views recorded by each state during the meeting and Karnataka’s letter which slammed the views of Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan’s contention that the scheme the Court had referred to is the formation of CMB,” a senior official said. 

The Centre would also submit the subsequent rejoinder issued by the state. “Of course, they would say that they had been doing their part. We are consulting our counsel and are exploring all the options to ensure that order is implemented in its entirety,” the official added.