The Supreme Court reserved its final orders on the draft Cauvery Water Management Scheme 2018 prepared by the Centre.
On Thursday, Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal re-submitted the draft scheme after incorporating the amendments suggested by the Supreme Court and Tamil Nadu. The Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra informed that the court may pass the order at 2 p.m. on Friday.
Named as authority
Notable among the amendments in the draft scheme is the naming of the Cauvery authority under the scheme as ‘Cauvery Water Management Authority.’ The headquarters of the authority has been shifted from Bengaluru to New Delhi.
Besides, in case of non-cooperation by the States, the authority can seek the help of the Centre, but the latter’s decision would not be final and binding on the States as mentioned in the earlier draft scheme.
Allaying Tamil Nadu's fears, Mr. Venugopal submitted that the authority was possessed with the same powers as the Cauvery Management Board as far as storage, apportionment, regulation and control of Cauvery water is concerned.
Tamil Nadu had insisted that the authority be named a ‘board’ rather than an authority.
Karnataka filed a written note objecting to the draft scheme. It said the scheme was not in consonance with the Supreme Court judgment in the Cauvery water.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan for Karnataka referred to how the Cauvery Water Dispues Tribunal had assured that nothing shall impair the rights of the States to regulate the use of their water or enjoy it in a manner not inconsistent with the tribunal’s award.
Mr. Divan said the Centre's draft scheme denies riparian States the freedom and right to use their share of water the way they want after meeting up with inter-state obligations and monthly releases. The draft scheme calls for the States to submit the ‘indents’ for suppllies to be drawn by them, whether it is a normal or a distress year.
Senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, for Tamil Nadu, countered that the objections raised by Karnataka were merely to thwart the release of water to Tamil Nadu by finding fault with the draft scheme.
The Supreme Court had rejected Karnataka’s repeated pleas to put off the Cauvery management scheme framed by the Centre till the dust settles on the government formation in the State.
Mr. Divan had wanted an adjournment till the first week of July. The court had paid no heed to Mr. Divan and went on to sift the inputs from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. It agreed to four changes suggested by the States in the draft Cauvery Management Scheme of 2018.
