Express News Service
The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to interfere with the directive from Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) asking Karnataka government to release 5,000 cusecs of water from Cauvery and Krishna basins to Biligundulu, Tamil Nadu for the next 15 days, adding that the factors taken into consideration by the authorities while issuing the directions are not “extraneous.”
A bench of Justices BR Gavai, PS Narasimha and PK Mishra in their order said, “Both the CWRC & CWMA consists of various experts from fields of water resource management, agriculture. After taking these factors into consideration both authorities have directed state of Karnataka to release 5k water at Billigundulu. The authority will be meeting every 15 days to assess the situation & direct the release of water. We are thus of the view that factors taken into consideration by the authorities is not extraneous.”
The Tamil Nadu government, appearing through Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, had submitted that the CWMA & CWRC in its August 20th meeting reduced the allocation to 5,000 cusecs, although they had found the state was entitled to 7,200 cusecs per day after taking drought situation into consideration.
“I’ve so much backlog & he says that I’m reducing 50%… what will happen to my standing crop? I have 5 lakh acres of standing crop. The reservoir in the basin are dependent on south west monsoon. If south west was bad, north east will also be bad…. You’ve taken drought & every thing into account. There is a cut of 25%,” Tamil Nadu’s senior counsel further said.
The Karnataka government, appearing through Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, urged the court to reconsider CWMA’s September 18 decision asking the state to release from its reservoirs 5,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu. Senior counsel also said that the authorities should not have directed for the release of more than 3,000 cusecs per day.
The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to interfere with the directive from Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) asking Karnataka government to release 5,000 cusecs of water from Cauvery and Krishna basins to Biligundulu, Tamil Nadu for the next 15 days, adding that the factors taken into consideration by the authorities while issuing the directions are not “extraneous.”
A bench of Justices BR Gavai, PS Narasimha and PK Mishra in their order said, “Both the CWRC & CWMA consists of various experts from fields of water resource management, agriculture. After taking these factors into consideration both authorities have directed state of Karnataka to release 5k water at Billigundulu. The authority will be meeting every 15 days to assess the situation & direct the release of water. We are thus of the view that factors taken into consideration by the authorities is not extraneous.”
The Tamil Nadu government, appearing through Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, had submitted that the CWMA & CWRC in its August 20th meeting reduced the allocation to 5,000 cusecs, although they had found the state was entitled to 7,200 cusecs per day after taking drought situation into consideration. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
“I’ve so much backlog & he says that I’m reducing 50%… what will happen to my standing crop? I have 5 lakh acres of standing crop. The reservoir in the basin are dependent on south west monsoon. If south west was bad, north east will also be bad…. You’ve taken drought & every thing into account. There is a cut of 25%,” Tamil Nadu’s senior counsel further said.
The Karnataka government, appearing through Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, urged the court to reconsider CWMA’s September 18 decision asking the state to release from its reservoirs 5,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu. Senior counsel also said that the authorities should not have directed for the release of more than 3,000 cusecs per day.
