The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal will meet in New Delhi on Tuesday to hear applications filed by the Centre, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala seeking clarification on the final award it had passed on February 5, 2007, allocating the quantum of water for each State.
When it last met on July 10, 2007, the Tribunal headed by N.P. Singh had refused to hear the applications saying it would be improper to take up clarificatory applications when the Supreme Court had admitted special leave petitions filed by the three States. “We will not know which portion of the award will survive and whether our order will be modified or not,” the Tribunal had said.
Hence, the applications and court appeals have been pending for the last seven years. The Tribunal had determined the total availability of water in the Cauvery basin at 740 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) at lower Coleroon Anicut site and allocated 419 tmcft for Tamil Nadu, 270 tmcft for Karnataka, 30 tmcft for Kerala and 7 tmcft to Puducherry.
As per the final award, Karnataka must release 182 tmcft as Tamil Nadu’s share at Bilingundlu gauging station and 10 tmcft for environmental purposes. From this, Tamil Nadu will release 7 tmcft to Puducherry.
The States had filed clarificatory applications on this award.
The Tribunal will meet, under the new chairmanship of Justice B.S. Chauhan, on July 15 to decide its future course of action.
In its petition for taking up hearing of the clarificatory applications, Tamil Nadu said as the Supreme Court had not stayed the final award, there was no impediment for the Tribunal to address the pending applications.
The decision on the pending applications under Section 5(3) of the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956, could be placed before the Supreme Court. This would help dispose of the long-standing dispute.