The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused Tamil Nadu's plea to direct Karnataka to forthwith release Cauvery river water from its reservoirs to make good a shortfall of 63 TMC ft at Billigundulu.
Making an urgent mention before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Tamil Nadu government counsel G. Umapathy said there is an acute shortage of water and asked the court to direct Karnataka to forthwith release 30 TMC ft. of water at Billigundulu out of the above shortfall within the next 10 days so as to sustain the cultivation in the Cauvery basin of Tamil Nadu.
In September, the Supreme Court Bench led by Justice Misra (as he was then) had reserved its judgment on the appeals filed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala against the final award of the Cauvery Tribunal in 2007 on the allocation of the river water to the three States.
In the mentioning, Chief Justice Misra made it clear to Mr. Umapathy that since the judgment is reserved, the court will not pass any interim orders.
However, the court asked senior advocate Fali Nariman, counsel for Karnataka, to enquire with the State as to the ground situation.
The court had ordered Karnataka to release 2,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu everyday as an interim measure till the appeals are finally decided by it.
