Supreme Court to hear TN plea on Cauvery release on Sept. 2

TN has contended that there has been a cumulative shortfall of 50.052 tmcft at Billigundulu

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear Tamil Nadu government's plea for an urgent judicial direction to Karnataka government to release 50.052 tmcft of Cauvery water from its reservoirs to feed the agricultural lands of Tamil Nadu in the “interest of justice”.

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, on an urgent mentioning by Tamil Nadu, agreed to post the case before a suitable Bench for hearing on September 2.

TN’s charge

Tamil Nadu government has accused Karnataka of diverting precious river water for undeclared projects in violation of the final orders of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal in 2007.

In its petition, Tamil Nadu has contended that it has not received 10 daily/monthly releases of Cauvery water between June 1 and August 19, 2016, causing a cumulative shortfall of 50.052 tmcft at Billigundulu.

The State said that a letter on July 30 to the Karnataka government, requesting the latter to make good the shortfall of 22.934 tmcft as on July 26 has not evoked any response till date.

The application sought the apex court's intervention to ensure that Karnataka adheres to the stipulated releases of Cauvery water in accordance with the 2007 tribunal order for the remaining months, starting August 20, 2016, in the irrigation year 2016-2017. This would at least protect the interests of the Tamil Nadu farmers who depend on Cauvery.

The application also sought a direction to Karnataka to immediately make good the 25 tmcft of water at Billigundulu out of the shortfall of 50 tmcft within the next 10 days so as to commence the samba cultivation in the Cauvery basin of Tamil Nadu.

It asked the court to direct Karnataka to replenish the remaining shortfall of 25 tmcft at Billigundulu before the third week of September so as to sustain the samba cultivation in the Cauvery basin of Tamil Nadu.

“The present abysmally low storage at Mettur reservoir of 28 tmcft is grossly inadequate to commence samba cultivation in about 15 lakh acres spread over in the Cauvery Basin of Tamil Nadu. The livelihood of more than 40 lakh people would be seriously affected if the agricultural operations are not commenced immediately. Any further delay in commencement of the operation would result in the samba crop being affected by the vagaries of North East Monsoon,” Tamil Nadu had said in its petition.