The Supreme Court has asked Karnataka to see how much water can be released to Tamil Nadu and asked it to apprise the court by the 8th of this month.
The Apex Court also asked the Centre to apprise it on May 8 about steps being taken for setting up of Cauvery Management Board to implement its order.
The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to apprise it on May 8 about steps taken for setting up of the Cauvery Management Board.
The board is to be set up for implementation of apex court’s judgement on the distribution of river water among Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry. This was after the Centre on Thursday asked SC to hear the matter a day after the Karnataka . Centre was earlier directed by the top court to frame and file a draft Cauvery management scheme by May 3.
Attorney General K K Venugopal told a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that the draft has to be placed before the Union Cabinet.
The bench initially asked the Karnataka government to release four TMC of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu by May 8, but later directed the state to apprise it “as to how much water can be released”.
The developments in New Delhi had an immediate impact in the political corridors of Karnataka where the parties are pitted in a bitter contest in assembly polls.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, in his initial reaction to the Superme Court direction to release water to Tamil Nadu, said that there is no water to release.
SC had earlier modified the Cuavery Water Dispute Tribunal award of 2007.
The top court had on February 16 raised the 270 tmcft share of Cauvery water for Karnataka by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu’s share, while compensating it by allowing extraction of 10 tmcft groundwater from the river basin, saying the issue of drinking water has to be placed on a “higher pedestal”.
With the apex court’s verdict, Tamil Nadu will get 404.25 thousand million cubic feet, Karnataka would be annually entitled to 284.75 thousand million cubic feet, Kerala will get 30 thousand million cubic feet and Union Territory of Puducherry will have 7 thousand million cubic feet of Cauvery water respectively out of the total of 740 tmcft.
On May 8th the situation will be more clear after the centre and Karnataka file their respective replies.