Supreme Court directs Karnataka to comply with Cauvery water release orders, next hearing on Aug 24

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Karnataka government to ensure compliance with the directions of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) regarding the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta posted the matter for further hearing on August 24, observing that an updated status report on water release could be placed before the Court at that time.

“Let this matter be posted after a week so that further status regarding the release of water can be reported. In the meantime, the respondent to ensure compliance of CWMA directions,” the bench said while adjourning the case.

The order came during the hearing of a plea filed by the Tamil Nadu government seeking enforcement of CWMA’s direction for the release of water. Senior advocate CS Vaidyanathan, appearing for Tamil Nadu, argued that Karnataka was not complying with the CWMA’s directives and that the state was not receiving the water required for release to farmers. He submitted that Karnataka’s reservoirs were holding around 76 per cent of their live storage capacity as of Monday morning.

According to Vaidyanathan, Tamil Nadu had received only 14 TMC of water against the 64 TMC due to it under the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal award. Even after factoring in the reduced flows during the distress year, Tamil Nadu was entitled to 55.29 per cent of the available water, resulting in a backlog of nearly 20 TMC.

On the other hand, senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing Karnataka, rejected Tamil Nadu’s claim that the state had failed to comply with the CWMA’s directions. He cited what he described as “extremely severe distress” in the Cauvery basin. Divan submitted that the CWMA had considered the prevailing water shortage before issuing its directions. According to him, the Authority’s initial order required Karnataka to maintain a release of 3,500 cusecs for 15 days, till August 11, a requirement he said the state had fulfilled and, in fact, exceeded by releasing considerably more water during that period.

Divan told the bench that the water flow on Monday morning had risen to 12,607 cusecs and that the reservoir gates had been opened. He said Karnataka would endeavour to maintain the CWMA-directed flow of 12,000 cusecs despite the difficulties faced by the state.

Tamil Nadu had approached the top court seeking enforcement of a CWMA decision directing Karnataka to release 3,500 cusecs of Cauvery water daily for 15 days. The state government moved the Supreme Court on August 3, challenging the non-implementation of the CWMA’s July 30 direction for the release of water from Karnataka’s Kabini and Krishna Raja Sagara reservoirs. Tamil Nadu sought a total release of 4.536 TMC of water, corresponding to 3,500 cusecs per day over 15 days, and urged that the stipulated quantity be released by August 12.

In a related development, the DMK, the opposition party in Tamil Nadu, had also approached the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Karnataka government to immediately release Cauvery water in accordance with the February 16, 2018 judgment of the top court and subsequent directions issued by the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) and the CWMA. In an application filed in the long-pending Cauvery water dispute, the DMK, represented by its Farmers Wing Secretary AKS Vijayan, sought enforcement of the CWRC’s July 28 direction, upheld by the CWMA on July 30, requiring Karnataka to ensure a flow of 3,500 cusecs per day at Biligundlu for 15 days commencing July 29. The application also sought a direction to the CWMA to monitor the releases from Karnataka’s reservoirs and the flows realised at Biligundlu on a day-to-day basis and to report compliance to the top court.

The DMK contended that Karnataka had failed to comply with the binding directions of the CWMA. The Supreme Court’s intervention comes amid a longstanding dispute over the sharing of Cauvery water between the two states, with the matter having been adjudicated by various tribunals and the Supreme Court over several decades. The next hearing is scheduled for August 24.