The Hindu : Give details on water release:SC

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Saturday, Sep 14, 2002

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Give details on water release:SC

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI Sept. 13. The Supreme Court today directed the Central Government to furnish details by September 20 regarding the quantum of water let into the Mettur reservoir by Karnataka following the court's September 3 order to release 1.25 tmcft (thousand million cubit feet) water per day and the Cauvery River Authority's decision reducing it to 9,000 cusecs a day.

K.K. Venugopal, senior counsel for Tamil Nadu, pleaded before a three-Judge Bench comprising the Chief Justice, B.N. Kirpal, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice Arijit Pasayat that Karnataka had not been implementing either the court order or the CRA's direction and that it should be directed to immediately make good the shortfall so that at least the `samba' crop in Tamil Nadu could be saved.

However, the Bench said that before considering the application on merits, the court would like to ascertain whether the order passed by it on September 3 and the CRA order of September 8 had been complied with, in the sense that water which was directed to be released to Mettur was released or not.

The Bench, therefore, directed the Union of India to file an affidavit in this regard on or before September 20 and posted the matter for further hearing on September 23, even as Mr. Venugopal told the court that Tamil Nadu would file its reply by September 23.

Earlier, Mr. Venugopal submitted that "we have nowhere else to go as all the constitutional mechanisms have failed to bring relief to the State. He said that from September 4 to 8, Karnataka ought to have released 6.25 tmcft water and from September 9 to 12, the State should have got another 3.20 tmcft based on the CRA's direction.

He produced a chart to the court indicating the daily inflows at Mettur, according to which only about 2.9 tmcft water had been released by Karnataka from September 4 till Thursday.

He said that in a matter of this nature, when a State would treat the inter-State waters as its own to the detriment of the lower riparian State and stage-manage a bandh, it would amount to breaking down of the constitutional machinery.

Based on the Supreme Court's order, Tamil Nadu had decided to release about 15,000 cusecs of water from Mettur for the `samba' cultivation. In the absence of an assurance from Karnataka, the State could not continue the cultivation, he said and urged the court to direct Karnataka to release at least the shortfall of 4.22 tmcft pursuant to its order.

But since the Bench wanted details regarding the quantum of water released to Tamil Nadu, it asked the Centre to furnish the same and adjourned the proceedings to September 23.

The Karnataka Law Minister, D.B. Chandre Gowda, who watched the proceedings in the court today, told reporters later that the State had implemented the court orders to release 1.25 tmcft water on a daily basis from September 4 to 8 and the CRA's order on a weekly basis from September 8 till today.

Asked about Mr. Venugopal's submission that Karnataka had stage-managed the bandh, he said no Government, after having agreed to implement the orders of the apex court and the CRA, would go to the extent of sponsoring a bandh.

Mandya farmers challenge CRA decision

Meanwhile, the Mandya Farmers Association in Karnataka has moved the Supreme Court seeking to intervene in the application filed by Tamil Nadu, maintaining that if the State was directed to implement the CRA's direction, it would severely affect the standing crop and farmers would be deprived of water necessary to nourish the same.

The Association submitted that it was alarmed and concerned by the CRA's direction, which appeared to have been accepted by Karnataka.

It said the combined storage in the four reservoirs of Harangi, Hemavathi, Krishna Raja Sagar and Kabini was 47.22 tmcft, whereas the total requirement for existing crops and drinking water supply was 72.83 tmcft.

It said Karnataka had received the lowest rainfall in 30 years and out of 175 taluks, 153 had been declared as drought-hit.

Tamil Nadu required water for samba crops which was in the stage of transplantation and did not require heavy water supply during the initial three weeks of transplantation.

Further, Tamil Nadu had the benefit of the South West monsoon and was also blessed with the North East monsoon from the last week of September, the Association said and urged the court not to pass any interim direction to release water to Tamil Nadu.

This application is likely to be heard on September 23.

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