Emphasising the significance of inter-state water dispute tribunals in view of the emotions of people involved in such disputes, the Supreme Court on Monday said that the Centre must take “proactiv

SC will ensure that required water will be made available to TN

The government is making efforts to secure Tamil Nadu’s rightful share of Cauvery water from Karnataka and the Supreme Court will ensure that required amount of water will be made available to the State, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said here on Friday. Replying to a debate on a special call attention motion on the Cauvery issue, the Chief Minister said her government had taken several steps to secure the State’s rights at any cost with a view to protecting the [long-term] samba crop, given the fact that the [short-term] kuruvai crop was adversely affected in the State.

Taking into consideration Tamil Nadu’s requirement for the next 15 days as well as the shortfall in Karnataka’s water releases between October 16 and 31, the Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) on Wednesday directed that State to release 6.20 tmcft from November 1 to 15, according to Tamil Nadu sources.

The CMC, chaired by Water Resources Ministry Secretary Dhruv Vijai Singh and consisting of the Chief Secretaries of all four riparian States, met to decide the quantum of water to be released by Karnataka from November 1. The CMC had on October 12 directed Karnataka to release 8.85 tmcft from October 16 to 31.

A CRA meeting held on September 19 had failed to produce a solution as both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had rejected the Prime Minister’s award of 9,000 cusecs of water to save the standing crops in the delta region.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) to examine and make recommendations on all issues likely to be raised by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over the sharing of water of river Cauvery at the panel’s scheduled meeting tomorrow.

Asks Karnataka counsel to complywith CMC recommendations

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC), which is meeting here on Wednesday, to examine all questions raised by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and make appropriate recommendations. A Bench of Justices D.K. Jain and J.S. Khehar also recorded an undertaking from senior counsel Fali Nariman, appearing for Karnataka, that the State would comply with the recommendations which might be made by the CMC in letter and in spirit.

After power and land, the Centre does not want to open up water as another area of dispute with the state governments.

The Tamil Nadu Government on Wednesday made a fresh plea in the Supreme Court for issuing appropriate directions to Karnataka to make good the shortfall of 48 tmcft of water as per the distress sharing formula.

It said as per the formula there must be pro-rata sharing of the available flows during the southwest monsoon and Karnataka must release 2 tmcft of water per day for 24 days to sustain the samba crop grown in an extent of 14.53 lakh acres.

Cauvery River Authority's refusal to review water release order

The Karnataka Government has moved the Supreme Court challenging Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s decision as Chairperson of the Cauvery River Authority refusing to review his order directing Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu from September 20 to October 15. In its special leave petition, Karnataka maintained that the CRA by an order dated October 11 had rejected the plea to review the order on the ground that the review petition was not maintainable.