Saturday, Oct 05, 2002
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By J. Venkatesan
A three-Judge Bench, comprising the Chief Justice, B.N. Kirpal, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice Arijit Pasayat, which passed the order, however, adjourned to October 24 the hearing on Tamil Nadu's application and on the contempt petition against the Karnataka Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, and four others. When senior counsel for Karnataka, Anil Divan, submitted that the State had requested the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, to review the CRA's order in view of the difficulties being faced by farmers, the Bench said "there is no question of non-compliance of the CRA's order. You are bound to obey and comply with the Prime Minister's order". The Bench told counsel that "as per the CRA's order, Karnataka is under an obligation to release 0.8 tmcft water. We are ill-equipped to go into the ground situation. Certainly the Prime Minister is more aware of the same". Even as counsel said any release of water to Tamil Nadu would adversely affect the standing crop, the Bench made it clear that today's order "will be subject to any order of the CRA which it may pass in modification of the order passed on September 8". Senior counsel for Tamil Nadu, K.K. Venugopal, drew the attention of the court to the report submitted by the Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) that the State required about 63 tmcft of water till October end for the "samba" crop. He submitted that in view of the defiant attitude of Karnataka during June-August, the State had lost its "kuruvai" crop. When the Bench wanted to know how much Tamil Nadu was entitled as per the "distress formula", counsel said it was to have received 85 tmcft during this period but it could get only 39 tmcft. Counsel said "it was utter callousness on the part of Karnataka to have turned a blind eye to the orders of the tribunal, the apex court and the CRA and nobody can touch them''. He said "it is our water that they have used for their cultivation and now they say we need water for the standing crops and therefore don't touch it". When the Bench wanted to know how much was the shortfall after the court passed its order, Mr. Venugopal said that "from September 4 to 30, Tamil Nadu ought to have obtained 23.85 tmcft but it got only 7.72 tmcft, and 16.13 tmcft was the shortfall". He said the court should direct Karnataka to make good the shortfall, besides implementing the CRA's order. However, Anil Divan contended that the figures at Mettur were not acceptable to Karnataka and figures at Biligundlu alone should be taken into consideration. As Tamil Nadu would have the advantage of the northeast monsoon, it could postpone its "samba" crop till the first week of November. Any release of water now would be harmful to the standing crops in Karnataka, he said. He also submitted that nearly two-third of the "samba" crop was cultivated during the northeast monsoon, as 52 per cent of the yearly rainfall in the Cauvery delta was from this monsoon. The Bench said it was concerned about the difficulties of farmers of both States. Therefore, taking into consideration the storage position in the four reservoirs of Karnataka — 45 tmcft — the Bench directed Karnataka to implement the CRA's order forthwith and adjourned the proceedings to October 24.
Violence in Karnataka
PTI reports from Bangalore: Police today foiled an alleged attempt to commit self-immolation by a man during a protest in Mysore, even as farmers took to the streets and blocked road traffic between Bangalore and Mysore. As news about the Supreme Court direction to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu spread in Mandya, hundreds of farmers took to the streets and blocked the traffic between Bangalore and Mysore. Agitators set fire to the engine of the ``Swarna Jayanti Express'' from Mysore to New Delhi near Maddur station, but it was immediately doused, police said
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