Cauvery issue: Centre seeks two-week extension to draft scheme

The central government on Wednesday sought an extension of two weeks from the Supreme Court (SC) to draft the water sharing scheme for the formation of Cauvery Management Board (CMB).

Earlier on Friday, the Centre sought an extension of two weeks for the same.

The apex court had criticised the Centre for neither framing the scheme in six weeks as directed by it nor approaching the court prior to the March 31 deadline to convey difficulties, if any, being faced by it.

On April 9, the top court criticised the Centre and asked it to frame a draft scheme by May 3 for implementation of its February 16 judgment.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi a week ago and said the state government is against the formation of Cauvery Management Board (CMB) since it is 'unconstitutional'.

In his letter, he mentioned that the Supreme Court had not directed any mechanism towards the formation of the CMB.

On February 16, a three-judge SC bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices Amitava Roy and A.M. Khanwilkar pronounced the judgement on the Cauvery Water Dispute between the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and the UT of Puducherry.

The bench directed Karnataka to release 177.25 TMC of water, instead of the 192 TMC to Tamil Nadu.