The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Karnataka's counter a challenge to the Centre

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Thursday, Sep 09, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Karnataka's counter a challenge to the Centre

By V. Jayanth

CHENNAI, SEPT. 8. Over the past few days, Tamil Nadu knew it was coming. Worse, when the Karnataka Government made its point before the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and followed it up with a counter in the Supreme Court, seeking reconstitution of the forum today, a fresh inter-State and Centre-State crisis appeared brewing.

Even if they failed to unite on a single platform on the Cauvery dispute, all political parties in Tamil Nadu have unequivocally condemned "Karnataka's intransigence" on the water dispute. Though the Tamil Nadu Government will fight it out in the apex court, the latest move by the neighbour has caused consternation among not only political leaders but also farmers.

The case is to be heard on September 10 but Karnataka seems to be taking the position that it will boycott the tribunal until the court gives its ruling on the petition. The tribunal's hearing today was adjourned to September 27, despite Tamil Nadu's objections.

Bid to delay award

Officials and water experts here interpret Karnataka's latest move as a "last-minute attempt" to delay or thwart the tribunal's final award, expected in early 2005. "It is surprising that 13 years after the tribunal gave its interim award and when it is about to pronounce its final award, Karnataka is making this demand. That State respected neither the award, nor even the rulings of the Supreme Court last year. And yet nothing has been done about it," regrets a former Public Works Department chief engineer.

He says Karnataka has never accepted or implemented the interim award and whenever Tamil Nadu got 205 tmcft or more of water in the Mettur dam, as prescribed, it was due to a favourable monsoon. "Karnataka has invariably used the Cauvery as a drainage system to release its surplus waters. Except in the 1970s or 1980s, when some quantity was released on request or as a goodwill gesture, there has been no instance of the State voluntarily releasing water unless its reservoirs are full," he explains.

The question is: how does Tamil Nadu deal with this new crisis? The consensus here seems to be that it is now beyond the State's capacity to secure its legitimate right over Cauvery waters, especially when Karnataka has not hesitated to even defy the Supreme Court. The suggestion from both political quarters and farmers is that the Centre must take charge of the situation and evolve a consensus between the warring States.

A senior Government official, echoing the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa's views, says: "The Cauvery River Authority, headed by the Prime Minister, has no teeth to implement its own orders. Karnataka has defied even this authority and its Chief Minister faced a contempt notice from the apex court last year. Where can the solution come from?"

Political equations

Till May this year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government at the Centre tried to wrestle with this dispute. Karnataka was under a Congress regime and the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) was in power in Tamil Nadu. Both of them were not part of the NDA. But now it is a Congress-Janata Dal (S) coalition in Bangalore and the AIADMK rules Tamil Nadu. At the Centre, the Congress is leading a coalition, in which six regional parties from Tamil Nadu are in alliance.

Sources in the AIADMK wonder whether the Centre and its leadership are capable of hammering out a mutually-acceptable solution.

They argue that the Cauvery row is only one of several inter-State problems and the Centre needs to come up with a framework to resolve such sensitive disputes, without dragging its feet.

Alliance partners of the Congress say they are determined to fight for the State's rights and will exert pressure on the Centre.

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