Karnataka on Saturday urged the Centre not to notify the Cauvery River Water Disputes Tribunal final award till the Supreme Court disposes civil petitions challenging the order.
The state Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, unanimously decided to urge the Centre not to notify the final order in the backdrop of riparian states contesting the award and also filing applications before the tribunal, seeking classificatory orders.
Briefing reporters, Minister for Urban Development S. Suresh Kumar said a copy of the decision would be forwarded to the Union Government.
He said the Central Water Commission Secretary had asked Karnataka Chief Secretary S.V. Ranganath about the state’s stand on notifying the tribunal order at the recent Cauvery Monitoring Committee meeting at Delhi, to which the latter had replied he could not say anything on it as the issue was not in the agenda and that he would have to discuss with the government”, Mr. Kumar said.
At the cabinet meeting, state Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai spoke of the Supreme Court directive to the Centre to consider notifying the tribunal order by January 31.
Mr. Kumar said the meeting was informed about the Solicitor General’s view that it was not fair to notify the order since applications are pending before the Supreme Court and also classificatory applications before the Tribunal as per the opinion tendered by the law department.
He pointed out that the Supreme Court had a few years ago directed the Centre not to notify the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal final award.
Mr. Kumar said Mr. Shettar has written two letters in Dec 2012 to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting that the tribunal verdict not be notified without consulting the state.
