Cauvery issue: SC seeks centre, Karnataka's response on TN plea

The Supreme Court Monday sought response from the central and Karnataka governments to Tamil Nadu's plea for setting up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) to effectively implement the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal's final order.

A bench of Chief Justice Altamas Kabir, Justice Fakir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla and Justice Vikramajit Sen sought the response of the central and state governments as senior counsel C.S.Vaidyanathan mentioned the Tamil Nadu government's application for the setting of two bodies.

The Tamil Nadu government application said that setting up of the two bodies was recommended in the Feb 5, 2007, final order of the tribunal that was gazetted by the central government Feb 19 this year.

It also urged the court to direct the Karnataka government to immediately release 10 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of water that is due to it for the month of June and the subsequent release of ten days/monthly flow for the coming months as per the final order of the tribunal.

The application has also sought that Karnataka release 53.18 TMC feet of water to make up for the shortfall at Mettur reservoir for 2012-13 as computed on pro rata sharing formula by the Cauvery Management Committee. This is besides the utilisation of the water in the current irrigation year 2013-14.

The Tamil Nadu government in its application said that the tribunal had favoured the setting up of an independent mechanism for the implementation of its award.

"In our opinion, the necessity of setting up a suitable mechanism is of utmost importance; besides whatever machinery is set up should be adequately empowered to implement the Tribunal's decision, as otherwise, we are afraid our decision would only be on a piece of paper", the Tamil Nadu application said, quoting the final order of the CWDT.

Directing the central and Karnataka governments to file its response to Tamil Nadu's plea, the court directed the listing of the matter July 12.