Supreme Court: The 3-Judge Bench of Dipak Misra, CJ and AM Khanwilkar and Dr. DY Chandrachud, JJ directed Centre to apprise it about steps taken for setting up of the Cauvery Management Board for implementation of its judgement on distribution of river water among Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry.
Attorney General KK Venugopal asked the Court to hear the matter a day after the Karnataka polls on the ground that the draft scheme has to be put before the Union Cabinet for approval. The Court had asked Centre to frame and file a draft Cauvery management scheme by May 3, 2018.
Senior Advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for the State of Tamil Nadu, took strong exception to the submission and said:
“This is the end of co-operative federalism and the rule of law in the country. This is the partisan attitude of the union of India to favour Karnataka.”
The Court initially asked the Karnataka government to release four TMC of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu by May 8, but later directed the state to apprise it “as to how much water can be released”. It said once the Centre places the draft scheme, which would also include Cauvery Water Management Board and Monitoring Authority, it would consider the grievances of all the stakeholder States. Earlier the Court had asked the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments to ensure that peace prevails till it finalises the Cauvery management scheme for implementation of its judgment on water distribution.
Source: PTI