The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday made an urgent mention in the Supreme Court, 24 hours after the apex court ordered neighbouring Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water for a period of 10 days to feed its parched agricultural lands in the “interest of justice”.
The reason: the written copy of Monday’s order showed only ‘15 cusecs’ of water instead of ‘15,000’ cusecs. In an urgent mentioning before a Bench of Justice Dipak Misra, senior advocate for Tamil Nadu Subramonium Prasad brought the clerical error to the notice of the court, which immediately agreed to rectify the mistake.
The decision to direct Karnataka to part with 15,000 cusecs of water for the stipulated period came shortly after the apex court urged Karnataka to embrace the principle of “live and let live”. It had advised Karnataka to take steps to release Cauvery water to distressed Tamil Nadu to help the latter continue to “exist as an entity”.
The court noted that Tamil Nadu has suffered water deficit for three straight months over June, July and August this year.
Tamil Nadu had sought the apex court’s intervention to release 50.052 tmcft of Cauvery water from Karnataka’s reservoirs. It had accused Karnataka of diverting precious river water meant to be a lifesaver for Tamil Nadu’s farmers during distress years for undeclared projects in violation of the final orders of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal in 2007.
The application had contended that the State had not even received the 10 daily/monthly releases of Cauvery water for the months from June 1 to August 19, 2016, causing a cumulative shortfall of 50.052 tmcft at Billigundulu.
The application had sought the apex court’s intervention to ensure that Karnataka adhered to the stipulated release of Cauvery water in accordance with the 2007 tribunal order for the remaining months, starting from August 20, 2016, in the irrigation year of 2016-2017. This would at least protect the interests of Tamil Nadu’s farmers dependent on the Cauvery.
The application had also sought a direction to Karnataka to make good the 25 tmcft of water at Billigundulu out of the shortfall of 50 tmcft within the next 10 days, so that samba cultivation can commence in Tamil Nadu’s Cauvery basin.
