Karnataka cites drought as TN seeks cauvery water

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Karnataka Government to respond to the Tamil Nadu Government’s plea seeking release of its share of the Cauvery River water, alleging a shortfall in supply.

While the Tamil Nadu Government told the apex court that it has already lost an early Kharif crop due to lack of water, the Karnataka Government said it was facing a “terrible drought situation”.

The matter came up for hearing before a bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Augustine George Masih and Sandeep Mehta.

Senior advocate CS Vaidyanathan, appearing for the Tamil Nadu Government, said the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) must pass an order on the shortfall to address the deficit. “What is the shortfall?” the bench asked.

“According to us, it is 20 TMC,” Vaidyanathan said.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the Karnataka Government, said they were complying with the CWMA’s directions on water release.

“We are complying with whatever directions have been passed even though this is a drought year,” he said. “In the present year, we are facing a terrible drought situation. CWMA is an expert body and both the parties are heard there,” Divan argued.

At the outset, Vaidyanathan referred to Tamil Nadu’s application and said the state has already lost the early Kharif crop due to lack of water.

On September 8, the CWMA had upheld the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee’s (CWRC) recommendation directing Karnataka to ensure a flow of 6,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for 15 days.

The apex court was told that Karnataka was releasing 6,000 cusecs as per the CWMA’s direction.

“They (CWMA) must pass an order about the shortfall,” Vaidyanathan said.

The bench observed, “The right of the party to have their grievances adjudicated by the CWMA cannot be denied. They (Tamil Nadu) have raised a grievance about deficit and the CWMA has to take a call on that”.

Divan argued that the CWMA was considering all factors. The bench was also told that the CWRC was reviewing the situation every 15 days. The top court asked Karnataka to file a response to Tamil Nadu’s application within a week and posted the matter for hearing on October 12. The top court had earlier asked the Tamil Nadu Government to raise its grievance before the CWMA over Karnataka’s release of its proportionate share of Cauvery water. On August 25, the CWMA upheld the CWRC recommendation directing Karnataka to ensure a flow of 9,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for 15 days. Earlier, the CWRC had directed Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu for 15 days from August 12. The CWMA had subsequently upheld that decision.

The top court is hearing the Tamil Nadu Government’s plea seeking directions to the Karnataka Government to release the water immediately. On August 17, the apex court had asked Karnataka to ensure compliance with the CWMA direction on the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.

The Tamil Nadu Government had earlier said the state was not getting its due share of Cauvery water in a rain-deficient year.

The Joseph Vijay-led state Government approached the apex court on August 3, seeking directions to Karnataka for immediate release of the water.

In its plea, the state Government claimed that the quantum allocated to it by the CWRC, as well as what its neighbour Karnataka released, was very little.