Sc Lauds Cauvery Accord

The Supreme Court yesterday expressed its satisfaction over the accord reached by the four states over the sharing of Cauvery waters, though Karnataka submitted that it was not entirely happy with the terms of the scheme.

The case will now be heard by a five-judge constitution bench next Monday to see whether the hearing should be continued in view of the new developments. The suit filed by Tamil Nadu in 1991, seeking the implementation of the tribunal's interim order to supply it 205 tmc of water by Karnataka is still before the constitution bench.

Now that the scheme has been drafted, the need for continuing with the hearing has to be reexamined. The three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice M M Punchhi, which heard case yesterday felt that the constitution bench must do this exercise in the new scenario. The court said that it was viewing the issue only from the legal angle. Earlier, Attorney General Soli Sorabjee told the court that he was happy to announce the success of the talks among the four states. He suggested that the constitution bench could now dispose of the suit also. The only discordant note was made by the Karnataka counsel who said that there was "consultation" but no "consensus". However, he stood by the accord.