Supreme Court: In the light of the violence in the States of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka because of an order passed by this Court on 12.09.2016, the Court directed that the guidelines issued in Destruction of Public and Private Properties In Re v. State of Andhra Pradesh (2009) 5 SCC 212, are to be complied with.
The bench of Dipak Misra and U.U. Lalit, JJ said that neither any “bandh” nor any agitation can take place when court has passed an order. It is to be complied with and, in any case, if there is difficulty, the concerned parties can approach the court. The people cannot become law unto themselves and, therefore, it is obligatory on the part of the authorities of both the States, namely, the State of Karnataka and the State of Tamil Nadu to prevent such actions.
The Court asked the Advocate-on-Record for the petitioner to serve a copy of this petition on the Standing Counsel for both the States and listed the matter along with the civil appeal relating to the disputes between the parties which is to be taken up on 20.09.2016.
By the order dated 12.09.2016, the Court had modified it’s earlier order dated 05.09.2016 directing the release of 15,000 cusecs of water by the State of Karnataka and had asked the State of Karnataka to release 12, 000 cusecs till 20.09.2016. The court had taken up the matter urgently due to the spontaneous agitations in the various parts of Karnataka in the Cauvery basis which has paralysed the normal life besides destroying the public and private properties. [P. Sivakumar v. Secretary, Ministry of Home, Govt. of Karnataka, 2016 SCC OnLine SC 942, decided on 15.09.2016]
