Bangalore, Sept 29: As the deadlock over the Cauvery issue continues, attention is focussed on the Supreme Court which will hear tomorrow the contempt of court petition filed by Tamil Nadu against the Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna and four others.
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are locked in one of the fiercest inter-state legal battles ever seen in India and every pronouncement of the Supreme Court on Cauvery issue is keenly awaited.
Tamil Nadu filed a contempt of court petition against Krishna, Karnataka's water resources minister H K Patil and three other officials on the ground that the state had not honoured the decision of the Supreme Court and Cauvery River Authority on release of water.
While the Supreme Court on September 3 asked Karnataka to release 1.25 tmc ft of water daily to Tamil Nadu, the CRA meet convened by the Prime Minister A B Vajpayee on September 8 asked the state to maintain 0.8 tmc ft flows till October.
Karnataka had made it clear at the CRA meet that the release of water would depend on the inflows and rains in the catchment area and it would come back to the authority, if the water level receded in its reservoirs, state officials said.
However, in the wake of heightened agitation, particularly after a farmer ended his life by jumping into the Kabini reservoir, and depleted storage, Karnataka suspended water release on Sept 19. An indignant Tamil Nadu filed a contempt of court petition in the Supreme Court.
Bureau Report