SC reserves order on Cauvery dispute; Karnataka agrees to release 2,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu daily

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its judgement on maintainability on appeal of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala against Tribunal's order of 2007 on Cauvery water row.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its judgement on maintainability on the appeal of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala against Tribunal's order of 2007 on Cauvery water row.

"Judgement reserved. Interim order of October 18 to continue till further orders," a bench of Justices Dipak Misra, Amitava Roy and A M Khanwilkar said.

The bench asked the parties to file their written submissions by October 24 and said it would pass the order thereafter.

The Centre, through Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, had raised a preliminary objection claiming that the CWDT award amounted to a final decree in the dispute and the apex court had no jurisdiction to hear appeals against the award of the tribunal.

Continuing its argument, Karnataka today said that appeals filed by the state against the award of the tribunal was maintainable.

Noted jurist and senior advocate Fali S Nariman, appearing for Karnataka, said the Supreme Court had the jurisdiction to adjudicate the appeals filed by the state against the award of tribunal.

The court also reprimanded the Karnataka government for releasing water to Tamil Nadu on a daily basis until further orders. 

The tribunal, in a unanimous decision passed on February 5, 2007, had determined the total availability of water in the Cauvery basin, at 740 tmcft at the Lower Coleroon Anicut site, including 14 tmcft for environmental protection and seepage into the sea.

The final award made an annual allocation of 419 tmcft to Tamil Nadu in the entire Cauvery basin, 270 tmcft to Karnataka, 30 tmcft to Kerala and 7 tmcft to Puducherry.

On the other hand, Karnataka government today said that it would stick to the Supreme Court direction to the state to release 2,000 cusecs of water per day to Tamil Nadu.

"We will stick to the Supreme Court order. I want to say no more than that," Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra told reporters on the sidelines of a media briefing on Cabinet meeting.

Siddaramaiah, who had been expressing his inability to share more water with Tamil Nadu since long, yesterday had told media that there's no water left in state reservoir. 

The Chief Minister made these remarks shortly after the Supreme Court had ordered Karnataka government to release 2,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to Tamil Nadu until further orders.