The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected Tamil Nadu’s request for stay on the Centre’s decision to allow Karnataka to prepare a detailed project report on a proposed dam in the Mekedatu area across the Cauvery river, reports said.
Justices AM Khanwilkar and Ajay Rastogi asked the Centre and the Karnataka government to reply to Tamil Nadu’s petition, The Hindu reported. The court was hearing three petitions filed by the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry governments. “No stay as of now,” NDTV quoted the court as saying.
The bench also asked the Centre and the Karnataka governments to reply to Tamil Nadu’s petition to direct the Union government to appoint an independent and full-time chairperson of the Cauvery Water Management Authority in accordance with a Supreme Court directive, Deccan Herald reported. The Edappadi K Palaniswami government questioned the Centre’s decision to give Central Water Commission chief S Masood Husain additional charge of the Cauvery body. The bench refused to take on the contempt petition for the time being.
On December 5, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government filed a contempt petition against the Central Water Commission, Karnataka Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar and others for allegedly violating the top court’s order on the construction of the dam in Mekedatu. The next day, the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a unanimous resolution urging the Centre to withdraw the permission.
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