The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with the order of the Cauvery Monitoring Committee which had directed Karnataka to supply 12 TMC of the river water to Tamil Nadu during December despite both warring states expressing dissatisfaction over the award.
A bench of Justices D.K. Jain and M.B. Lokur turned down the plea of Tamil Nadu which contended that the report is factually wrong and the court should interfere in the matter to direct Karnataka to release more water. “They (members of the CMC) are experts and we should not comment on it. If you are not happy with the report then do what you want to do for getting remedy,” the bench said, giving both parties the option to approach the CRA over the issue.
“It seems that both sides are not satisfied by the direction issued by the CMC. We leave it for the parties to work out in accordance with law,” the bench said in its order.
The matter was posted for further hearing on January 4 after noting that the order of the committee is for the month of December. The CMC, which met on the direction of the top court, had on December 7 asked Karnataka to provide Tamil Nadu with 12 TMC of Cauvery water during this month. Kerala and Puducherry are the other two member states of CMC which is headed by Union secretary, water resources.
“It would seem equitable if Karnataka should manage water in such a way that Tamil Nadu receives 12 TMC feet during the month of December 2012,” the committee had said in its interim award.
The award said 12 TMC water will not be enough to save all the standing crop in Tamil Nadu but will also not adversely affect Karnataka. While Karnataka has 36.30 TMC against the 10 year average of 53.70 TMC in its four reservoirs, Tamil Nadu has 17.04 TMC against a 10 year average of 59.30 TMC.