The State has approached the Supreme Court once again on the Cauvery issue, this time seeking damages from Karnataka to the tune of about Rs. 2,480 crore for not following orders of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT).
Besides, the State wanted the court to pass an order, directing Karnataka to release 53.18 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft), a shortfall that occurred during 2012-2013 as computed on a pro-rata formula.
Of the amount claimed by Tamil Nadu, Rs. 1,045.7 crore was on account of loss of production of food grains (paddy), biomass and electricity, the remaining Rs. 1,433.91 crore was due to the cultivation of paddy, sugarcane and semi-dry crops by Karnataka in areas that were in excess of the neighbouring State’s entitlement, as per the interim order.
The suit, which was filed on May 9, has not yet been numbered.
The authorities here are expecting that the matter would be taken up after summer vacation of the court.
The State had arrived at the quantum of shortfall, as assessed by the Cauvery Monitoring Committee.
The panel had concluded that there was a shortfall of 39.7 per cent in total inflows received by four major reservoirs of Karnataka during June-December 2012 compared to the long term average. By that yardstick, Tamil Nadu should have realised 116.7 tmc ft in the corresponding period whereas it got 63.56 tmc ft.
