Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edppadi K Palaniswami on Saturday asserted that the central government has to set up the Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee in line with the Supreme Court’s orders.
In a statement here, Palaniswami said officials from the state clearly conveyed this fact at a meeting called by the Union Water Resources Ministry on Friday in New Delhi.
The Chief Minister also said that the Members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu are protesting in New Delhi demanding the setting up of the Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee.
The Apex Court, on February 16, had ordered the central government to set up the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee within six weeks. However, in the meeting held between the chief secretaries of the Cauvery Basin states with the Union Ministry of Water Resources.
The meeting, convened to discuss the process of setting up the Board, saw arguments about the meaning of the word ‘scheme’ in the SC order. While TN argued that “scheme” meant to comply with the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal to set up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB), Karnataka opposed this by saying that there is no mention of the river management board and only a ‘scheme’ is mentioned.
The Central government went with Karnataka’s argument, putting an end to TN’s dreams of setting up the CMB immediately.
The Supreme Court reduced Tamil Nadu's share in the Cauvery water to 177.25 thousand million cubic feet (TMC), down from 192 TMC allocated by a tribunal in 2007.
Chief Minister Palaniswami said the Supreme Court in its February 16 order has clearly said a scheme has to be drawn up to implement the final award and other orders of Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal given on February 5, 2007.
Palaniswami said the scheme is nothing but setting up of Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee.
He also said the Supreme Court, in its February 16 order, while changing the share of Cauvery water between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, has clearly said there is no change in the award given by the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal.