It's 'wilful disobedience' of court ruling by Centre, says TN in contempt plea filed in SC

Centre wants three months' extension to frame a scheme

Updated - March 31, 2018 02:29 pm IST

Published - March 31, 2018 12:55 pm IST - NEW DELHI

The Cauvery river

The Cauvery river

Tamil Nadu on Saturday moved the Supreme Court to initiate contempt proceedings against the Central government for its “wilful disobedience” of the February 16 court judgment in the Cauvery dispute mandating it to frame a scheme to set up a Cauvery management board and a Cauvery water regulation committee to monitor  the allocation of the river water among Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry.

Tamil Nadu has accused the Centre of refusing to act to “protect the interests of the farmers and the larger interests of the State”.

The contempt petition wants the apex court to “purge the contempt forthwith” by directing the Centre to frame a scheme by providing for a management board and a water regulation committee as per the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s order of 2007.

February 16 judgment

As per the February 16 judgment in the Cauvery appeals, the Centre had to frame the scheme in six weeks. The deadline ended on March 29. On the eve of the deadline, the Centre moved the Supreme Court for a three-month extension for the implementation of the judgment. As Karnataka is having Assembly elections on May 12, the Centre wants to delve into the sensitive Cauvery issue after the polls.

The Centre has also sought clarifications on certain points in the February 16 judgment. In its application, the Centre asked the court to clarify whether it was open to it to frame a scheme “at variance” with the tribunal’s recommendations. For one, it wanted to know whether a Cauvery management board can have a mixture of administrative and technical expertise rather than the purely technical body envisaged by the tribunal.

Secondly, the Centre asked whether it could accord a management board with functions different from those recommended by the tribunal.

Finally, the Centre asked the Supreme Court for its opinion on the framing of the scheme under Section 6A of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act of 1956, considering the divergent views expressed between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Tamil Nadu wants a management board as per the 2007 tribunal order, while Karnataka wants a two-layer scheme, one headed by a committee led by the Union Water Resources Secretary.

The Centre’s application, filed after the court closed this week, is pending.

Tamil Nadu, which filed the contempt petition through advocate G. Umapathy as soon as the Supreme Court Registry opened on Saturday, reminded that the apex court has clearly, in its February 16 verdict, banned any extension of time to the Centre for framing a scheme.

“Central Government was bound to give effect to the judgment by framing a scheme so that the authorities under the scheme viz. Cauvery management board and Cauvery water regulation committee are put in place within six weeks… It has not taken any concrete steps in this regard,” Tamil Nadu contended.

Meeting of Chief Secretaries

It pointed how “belatedly, after a period of three weeks, the Central government merely convened a meeting of the Chief Secretaries of the party States on 09.03.2018. The convening of such a meeting does not in any way make any substantial progress in the matter of constitution of a Cauvery management board and Cauvery water regulation committee”.

Tamil Nadu said it had written to the Centre repeatedly on March 13, March 21 and March 23 for the constitution of a Cauvery management board within the six-week time limit so that farmers do not suffer during the irrigation season commencing from June 1.

“Ensuring timely release of water is apparent in the judgment itself and, therefore, any delay in constituting a Cauvery management board and a Cauvery water regulation committee is to the prejudice to the farmers of State of Tamil Nadu… In the absence of any cogent reasons for not constituting a Cauvery management board and a Cauvery water regulation committee within the time frame and/ or not making any substantial steps in that directions amount to wilful disobedience of the judgment of the Supreme Court,” Tamil Nadu said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.