New Delhi, August 24: The Supreme Court granted Tamil Nadu permission on Monday to bring its complaint before the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA). Tamil Nadu’s grievance is that Karnataka is not releasing its allocated share of the Cauvery water. The court has scheduled a hearing for this matter on August 31.
A bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta was hearing Tamil Nadu’s petition, which seeks an order for Karnataka to release 26.954 TMC of water from the Cauvery.
Senior advocate C.S. Vaidyanathan, representing Tamil Nadu, stated that the state had received water as per CWMA’s directives until Monday morning. However, he emphasized that Tamil Nadu’s complaint is that the CWMA has not instructed Karnataka to compensate for the shortfall in the allocated water.
Vaidyanathan argued that the state is entitled to a specific amount of water, which is unfortunately not being provided. He informed the bench led by Justice Nath that the CWMA is holding meetings on Monday and Tuesday, where Tamil Nadu will present its complaint.
He requested the Supreme Court to schedule the hearing for the following Monday. Vaidyanathan also mentioned that Karnataka’s reservoirs hold approximately 78 TMC of water and contended that Tamil Nadu is not receiving its rightful share.
Following this, the Supreme Court set the hearing for August 31, allowing the parties to present the latest status of water releases before the court.
Tamil Nadu approached the Supreme Court seeking an order for Karnataka to release 26.954 TMC of Cauvery water, accusing it of not complying with the directives of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) and CWMA.
This petition was filed after the CWRC’s 139th meeting on July 28, which reviewed the hydrological and meteorological conditions in the Cauvery basin. Karnataka was directed to ensure a flow of 3,500 cusecs of water at Billigundlu for 15 days from July 29 to August 12.
The committee also instructed Karnataka to manage the release of water from the Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) and Kabini reservoirs to maintain the specified flow.
The CWMA conducted an emergency meeting on July 30 to assess the basin’s conditions and endorsed the CWRC’s recommendations.
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