Date:24/09/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/09/24/stories/2002092404610101.htm

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T.N. not to attend Cauvery monitoring panel meet

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI SEPT. 23. Tamil Nadu will not participate in the emergency meeting of the Cauvery Monitoring Committee on September 24 as the Cauvery issue was "sub-judice.'' The State Chief Secretary, Sukavaneshwar, in a communication to the chairman of the CMC and the Union Water Resources Ministry Secretary, suggested that the meeting be postponed as the matter was before the Supreme Court.

Pointing out that the court was to take up Tamil Nadu's application challenging the decision of the Cauvery River Authority, he said the holding of an emergency meeting was a matter of concern as it was the apex court which alone had to take a decision on the issue. A contempt petition against the Karnataka Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, for failure to implement the Supreme Court order to release water to Tamil Nadu, was also pending in the court, he said.

Any such meeting might amount to contempt of court "as it amounts to interfering with the due process of law in the Supreme Court,'' he added.

Later talking to reporters, the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, said the State Government's decision was taken on the basis of legal advice "because there are issues of violations of Constitutional provisions in the contempt petition".