The Supreme Court on Monday, August 17, directed the Karnataka government to comply with the Cauvery Water Management Authority’s (CWMA) directions on releasing water to Tamil Nadu and sought a status report on the releases.
A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta was hearing Tamil Nadu’s plea seeking implementation of the CWMA’s directions. The Court posted the matter for August 24.
Senior Advocate CS Vaidyanathan, appearing for Tamil Nadu, told the Court that Karnataka was not complying with the CWMA’s directions. He said Tamil Nadu had received only 14 TMC of water against the 64 TMC it was entitled to under the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal award.
Vaidyanathan said Karnataka’s reservoirs had 76% live storage as of Monday morning and argued that, even after accounting for the deficit in inflows this year, Tamil Nadu should have received 55.29% of the mandated quantity. This, he said, left a backlog of around 20 TMC.
Appearing for Karnataka, senior advocate Shyam Divan disputed the allegation of non-compliance and said the state was facing “extremely severe distress” in the Cauvery basin.
Divan said the CWMA’s earlier direction required Karnataka to release 3,500 cusecs for 15 days until August 11, and that Karnataka had met the requirement and released substantially more water during that period.
He also told the Court that water released from the Krishna Raja Sagara reservoir takes around 48 hours to reach downstream locations and that established protocols had to be followed before changing reservoir releases.
On the CWMA’s latest direction requiring Karnataka to maintain a flow of 12,000 cusecs from August 12, Divan acknowledged that the flow had remained at around 6,000 cusecs for the first four to five days. He said Karnataka expected to make up the shortfall in the following days.
The flow had risen to 12,607 cusecs on Monday morning, Divan said, adding that the reservoir gates had been opened. Karnataka would endeavour to maintain the CWMA-directed flow of 12,000 cusecs despite the difficulties faced by the state, he said.
The Bench questioned Karnataka on its compliance with the 12,000-cusecs direction and said the position could be reviewed after a further period.
“Let this matter be posted after a week so that further status regarding the release of water can be reported. In the meantime, the respondent should ensure compliance with CWMA directions,” the Bench said.
The Tamil Nadu government had approached the Supreme Court on August 3, seeking implementation of the CWMA’s July 30 decision directing Karnataka to release 3,500 cusecs of water for 15 days.
Tamil Nadu had sought the release of 4.536 TMC, calculated at 3,500 cusecs per day for 15 days, by August 12. The CWMA’s direction required Karnataka to release water from the Kabini and Krishna Raja Sagara reservoirs to meet Tamil Nadu’s requirements.
The dispute comes amid continuing tensions between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the sharing of Cauvery water. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has also filed a separate application before the Supreme Court seeking the release of water at Biligundlu.