The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked Karnataka to continue to release 2,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu from the Cauvery river till it decides on the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s 2007 award, which had allocated the water to several states in the region. The tribunal had determined that Tamil Nadu should get 419 tmc (thousand million cubic feet), Karnataka should get 270 tmc, Kerala should get 30 tmc and Puducherry 7 tmc.
The apex court said that it would conduct day-to-day hearings from February 7, on pleas filed against the 2007 verdict of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal. The Supreme Court bench ruled that the dispute between the states must end immediately, The Times of India reported.
Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala had approached the Supreme Court in 2016, appealing against the tribunal’s 2007 order. On October 19, the bench had reserved its judgment on these appeals and passed an interim order, asking Karnataka to release 2,000 cusecs of water a day to Tamil Nadu. The court had extended this order on December 15 as well.
On December 9, the court had dismissed the Centre’s contention that it had no jurisdiction over the Cauvery water dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The Centre’s counsel had said that the parliamentary law of Inter-State Water Disputes Act of 1956 and Article 262 (2) of the Indian Constitution barred the apex court from deciding on any appeals against the Cauvery Tribunal’s decision. The government had also asserted that the tribunal award was final.
The Cauvery water-sharing dispute snowballed into a controversy after the Supreme Court, on September 5, directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu. It later modified its verdict and reduced the quantity to 12,000 cusecs, but the order had led to widespread protests by farmers in Karnataka, who had argued that the state needed the water more than its neighbour. While Karnataka had earlier defied Supreme Court orders and decided against releasing water to its neighbouring state, it released 6,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu late on October 3.
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