The Supreme Court on Monday deferred the hearing to August 17 on the petition of the Tamil Nadu government seeking to restrain Karnataka from drawing excess water from various reservoirs on Cauvery during the current season.
The Tamil Nadu government counsel made a special mention for urgent hearing of the petition before a bench, headed by Justice D. K. Jain, which decided to take it up for detailed arguments on August 17.
The Tamil Nadu government earlier had moved an application in the pending case between the two states, seeking to restrain Karnataka from drawing water more than its allocated share as it would cause further misery to people, especially TN farmers who are already facing water scarcity.
During a brief argument the question related the intervention by the Prime Minister was also raided by the counsel for Tamil Nadu, to enforce the order of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal, passed in February 2007, on sharing of the water.
Since the issue of drawing excess water by Karnataka arose every summer when the level in the reservoirs fall down drastically, the Tamil Nadu government said that the Union government, especially the PM, should be asked to intervene to enforce the tribunal’s order.
Reciting the history of the dispute, Tamil Nadu said the 2007 award of the Tribunal had taken note of all developments made under the agreements of 1892 and 1924 between the two states on sharing of water from Cauvery, which is the lifeline for the people of both the states.