Cauvery dispute: SC directs K'taka to release water to TN

The talks between the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had failed to break the deadlock on the water sharing row

In an interim relief to Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court directed Karnataka on Wednesday to release 10,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to its neighbouring state and asked the Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) to hold its meeting to decide the amount of water required by the states.

A bench of justices DK Jain and Madan B Lokur said its interim order would continue till the CMC files its report. It asked the committee to meet tomorrow or day after and posted the case for further hearing on Monday.

Cusec is a measure of flow rate of water and is abbreviation for cubic feet per second (which is equivalent to a flow of 28.317 litres per second) and 11,000 cusecs flow for a day amounts to 1 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) water.

“CMC is requested to hold the meeting on December 6 or 7 to find out water requirement for crops in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for the month of December and the report would be submitted to the concerned authority.

“In the meantime, we direct that till the CMC submits its report, Karnataka shall release 10,000 cusecs water per day from today. We make it clear that the order will continue till CMC submits its report,” the bench said.

The bench said its immediate concern was to save the crops, which are allegedly dying because of lack of water and it would decide other issues later on.

“Both states are distressed and we have to see that we can save crops of both the states. We would keep our eyes open to the requirement of both the states and find out a practical solution of the problem,” the bench observed.

The apex court also asked the Union government to explain as to why the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal had not been notified by the government. The court gave its order on an interim application of Tamil Nadu for release of additional water from Cauvery on alleged ground that its winter crop is dying due to lack of water.

During the earlier hearing on November 26, the court had asked the chief ministers of the two states to meet and arrive at an amicable solution to the “sensitive” Cauvery water dispute.

The talks between the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, however, had failed to break the deadlock on the water sharing row and the matter had again reached the apex court.