The Supreme Court on Friday asked Karnataka to shed its indifference to the woes faced by Tamil Nadu over non-sharing of Cauvery river water and agree to share some water bearing in mind the “live and let live” principle.
Tamil Nadu had approached the Supreme Court against Karnataka for not honouring the formula of water sharing proposed by an Award by the Inter-state Water Dispute Tribunal. Under this arrangement, considering the months of deficit monsoons and good monsoons, Tamil Nadu was to receive 134 thousand million cubic (TMC) feet of water between June and September. However, till date, there is a deficit of 60 TMC water received from Karnataka.
With farmers in Tamil Nadu coming out in protest following non-supply of water for their crops, senior advocate Shekhar Naphade appearing for TN said that the situation was precarious since Karnataka was not willing to budge. Even the Supervisory Committee that is to monitor implementation of the Tribunal’s Award meets once in a while giving no hope to the State for an early resolution of the prevailing impasse.
The Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and UU lalit felt that the Constitution provides for harmonious existence of States. It said, “Due to non-supply of water, industry, business and everything else gets affected.” It asked senior advocate Fali S Nariman appearing for Karnataka whether he can impress upon the authorities in the State for a solution which could be expeditious.
The Bench said, “We are not asking you to compensate for the deficit created from June-August, but at lease live up to the formula prescribed under the Award. The principle of live and let live has to be applied in this situation.”
Nariman told the court that the formula under the Award was unworkable. He said that Karnataka itself was reeling under deficit monsoons this year. It showed a chart explaining that its reservoirs currently has about 47 TMC water, even as Tamil Nadu is claiming a share of 60 TMC more from the State for the past three months. Nariman further observed that the Award does not envisage a formula for deficit rainfall months.