Cauvery plea to be taken up on August 17: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said pleas of the Tamil Nadu Government and others, including the DMK, seeking directions to the Karnataka Government to immediate release Cauvery waters to it, will be taken up for hearing on August 17.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana had earlier said the Tamil Nadu government’s plea will be taken up for hearing on Thursday, August 13.
On Wednesday, senior advocate P Wilson, appearing for some farmers, mentioned a separate plea for urgent listing.
“This was to come up tomorrow before Justice Vikram Nath (led bench). But he is not well,” the CJI said.
Earlier, the Tamil Nadu Government had said the state was not getting its due share of Cauvery water in a rain-deficient year. The Joseph Vijay led-state Government on August 3 approached the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Karnataka Government for immediate release of the water. The state government, in its plea, claimed that the quantum allocated to it by the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) as well as that released by its neighbour Karnataka was far less.
A CWRC meeting held on July 28 directed Karnataka to release 3,500 cusecs for 15 days starting July 29. However, the quantum of water released at Biligundlu ranged between 158 and 550 cusecs from July 29 to August 2, the State Government said.
A press release issued by the Tamil Nadu Government said that as of August 3, the combined total storage in the reservoirs in Karnataka — KRS, Kabini, Harangi and Hemavathy — stood at 77.537 TMC and Karnataka would face no difficulty in releasing Tamil Nadu’s due share proportionately.
Following rains in the catchment areas in the KRS and Kabini dams in Karnataka recently, the proportionate water to be realised at Biligundlu should be 26.954 TMC, it said.
“Accordingly, the Cauvery Water Management Authority order allocating 4.536 TMC is very less,” the release added. Karnataka has “failed” to share with Tamil Nadu its due share of water and the quantum was 26.954 TMC, the press release said.
