SC defers Cauvery water plea to Aug 17 as judge recovers from viral fever

The Supreme Court has deferred to August 17 the hearing on Tamil Nadu’s plea seeking directions to Karnataka to comply with the Cauvery Water Management Authority’s (CWMA) decision on the release of Cauvery water, after Justice Vikram Nath, who was to head the bench.

(HT PHOTO)Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Wednesday said that the matter, which was earlier scheduled to be heard on Thursday, will now come up before a bench headed by Justice Nath, who is expected to resume judicial work next week. Senior.

What Happened

The CJI informed Wilson that Justice V Mohana had recused herself from hearing the matter and that the case would consequently be placed before a bench headed by Justice Nath. However, with Justice Nath down with viral and likely to return only.

• The development comes a day after the CWMA, which met in Delhi on Tuesday, endorsed the decision of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) directing Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs of water per day.

• At 12,000 cusecs a day, Karnataka would have to release around 15.55 TMC ft of water over 15 days, based on the conversion that 11,574 cusecs flowing for 24 hours amounts to one TMC.

• Tamil Nadu approached the Supreme Court saying Karnataka had wilfully failed to comply even with the earlier direction to release 3,500 cusecs per day.

Key Details

The state had sought directions to ensure that the stipulated flow reaches the inter-state border point at Biligundlu and that Karnataka makes good the accumulated shortfall in releases. The state, however, claimed that actual flows recorded at Biligundulu between July 29 and.

• According to Tamil Nadu, the earlier 3,500-cusecs direction would have required Karnataka to release 4.536 TMC of water by August 12.

• The fresh 12,000-cusecs direction by the CWMA has, meanwhile, triggered another round of deliberations in Karnataka.

• Alternatively, it had sought reduction of the proposed release from 12,000 cusecs to 10,000 cusecs a day.

Why It Matters

Tamil Nadu had also sought an additional release of 26.954 TMC, contending that this represented its pro-rata entitlement between June 1 and August 12 under the distress-sharing formula. The DMK’s application, which was filed separately ahead of the state government’s plea, similarly.

• The state told the authority that the Cauvery basin was “reeling under severe hydrological distress”, pointing out that its four reservoirs had received cumulative inflows of only 77.746 TMC ft during the current water.

• The CWRC on July 28 directed Karnataka to release 3,500 cusecs per day for 15 days from July 29.

What Reports Say

Coverage of the story so far points to:

• Continued reporting by Hindustan Times as more details emerge