Former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had often been accused of betraying the interests of Tamil Nadu on the Cauvery issue by his political adversaries, who flayed him for getting a petition in the Supreme Court withdrawn in 1972. This was something that the former Chief Minister had to live with for a substantial part of his political career.
It was when Karunanidhi was the Chief Minister that the State government, in August 1971, filed a suit in the Supreme Court, seeking a direction to the Union government to refer the Cauvery river water sharing dispute to a tribunal under the Inter State River Water Disputes Act.
About a year later, on the assurance of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi that she would have the dispute resolved through negotiations, the State government withdrew its petition.
For several decades thereafter, Karunanidhi was accused of compromising on the State’s rights and the withdrawal of the suit was cited as the reason for Tamil Nadu not getting its rightful share of the Cauvery water from Karnataka.
However, S. Ranganathan, general secretary of the Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Welfare Association whose petition in the Supreme Court in 1983 eventually led to the constitution of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT), asserts that Karunanidhi did not let down the State by having the petition withdrawn.
Actually, when the decision to take back the suit was taken, it was also resolved that the State government reserved the right to return to the court, should it become necessary.
Mr. Ranganathan recalls that he made his position clear to Karunanidhi’s arch rival Jayalalithaa, even when the latter was the Chief Minister. Jayalalithaa was among those who had criticised Karunanidhi over the years for withdrawing the suit.
However, Mr. Ranganathan felt that the DMK government of 2006-11, headed by Karunanidhi, was “tardy” in getting the final order issued by the CWDT in February 2007 published in the Central government gazette. It was left to Jayalalithaa to have the final order gazetted.
