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Karnataka fulfilled order on release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, Supreme Court told
Karnataka fulfilled its obligation of releasing 10,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of Cauvery river water per day to Tamil Nadu between August 12 and August 26, the Supreme Court was informed.
Karnataka fulfilled its obligation of releasing 10,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of Cauvery river water per day to Tamil Nadu between August 12 and August 26, the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) informed the Supreme Court on Thursday, clarifying there has been no breach of its directive by the Siddaramaiah government.
Submitting its affidavit in response to the court’s query, the authority said that “Karnataka has fulfilled the direction of CWMA by releasing a total of 1,49,898 cusec water at Biligundulu from 12.08.2023 to 26.02.2028.”
The supply of water by Karnataka to Tamil Nadu, the affidavit said, was in compliance with the August 11 directive of CWMA to the former state. The authority added that in the meeting held on August 29, Karnataka was directed to release 5,000 cusecs of Cauvery river water per day to Tamil Nadu for the next 15 days.
Despite 51.22% shortfall in the inflow in Karnataka’s Cauvery basin reservoirs, the state released 1,54,281 cusecs to Tamil Nadu between August 12 and August 27, the authority said.
CWMA’s affidavit further said that the total live storage in the four Karnataka reservoirs, namely KRS, Kabini, Harangi and Hemavati, was 62.85 TMC as on August 27 as against the live storage of 104 TMC, which it said was 60.12 % low.
On August 25, a Supreme Court bench led by justice BR Gavai had sought a report from CWMA, clarifying whether the Karnataka government followed the August 11 directive of the authority and released 10,000 cusecs of water every day to Tami Nadu between August 12 and August 26.
“It is appropriate for CWMA to submit a report on whether the water as per its order has been discharged or not. Karnataka submits that as a matter of fact, the orders passed by CWMA are adverse to the interest of Karnataka and that it has filed an application for review of the order passed on August 11. On the contrary, Tamil Nadu claims that water allotted is much less and that they have requested the authority to enhance the quantity,” the bench, which also included justices PS Narasimha and PK Mishra, recorded in its order on the day.
The bench is seized of an application moved by Tamil Nadu for a direction to Karnataka to release 24,000 cusecs per day of river water from its reservoirs. The MK Stalin government has urged the court to direct CWMA to ensure that the directions issued to Karnataka by Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal (CWDT) in respect of the release of water to Tamil Nadu are fully implemented and the stipulated monthly releases during the remaining period of the current water year are fully given effect to.
The plea pointed out that Stalin also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 4 apprising him of the growing concern amongst the farmers in the Cauvery Basin of Tamil Nadu due to the failure of Karnataka in adhering to the directions of CWMA.
Responding, the Siddaramaiah government has called the plea “wholly misconceived” because the state suffered from a distressed water year due to the failure of south-west Monsoon. Karnataka said that the Tamil Nadu government’s demand is based on an “erroneous assumption” that this water year is a normal water year.
Maintaining that the total inflows in four reservoirs in Karnataka are 42.5% lower as on date, the affidavit contended: “The entire current storage plus likely inflow is not sufficient for the crops in Karnataka and for meeting the drinking water requirement of towns and villages including the megacity of Bengaluru which is the technological hub of the world. Hence, Karnataka’s reasonable needs are at serious risk.”
The court, during the hearing on August 25, had not acceded to the Tamil Nadu government’s oral request for directing the Karnataka government to continue to release at least 10,000 cusecs of water every day after the Centre informed it that a meeting of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) is scheduled for August 28.
Additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, on the day told the bench that an interim arrangement on the release of water for the next 15 days will be taken up in the next CWRC meeting. The matter will then move to CWMA, which is a statutory body constituted for implementation of the decision of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.
Recording ASG’s statement, the bench had deferred the hearing to September 1 while observing that both the states should first approach the regulatory authority for meeting their requirement of Cauvery water.
