New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked Karnataka to release at least 2 tmc of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu and warned it of “serious consequences” if it fails to release the water.
The apex court posted Tamil Nadu’s petition for framing of scheme for release of Cauvery water as per the February 16 judgment for hearing on Tuesday. It also asked the Centre to file an affidavit by Tuesday stating the steps taken to frame the scheme.
The Attorney General KK Venugopal said that the government could not take a decision on the scheme for implementing its direction on sharing Cauvery waters as the Prime Minister and other ministers were campaigning in Karnataka. Tamil Nadu retorted that the Centre was “politicizing” the issue ahead of the Karnataka polls.
Seeking 10 days time to finalize a scheme, Attorney General KK Venugopal told Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud: “A draft scheme has been placed before the cabinet. Because of Karnataka elections, the Prime Minister and all other Ministers are in Karnataka. Before that the Prime Minister was abroad (in China).”
In a strong rebuttal, senior counsel Shekhar Naphade, appearing for Tamil Nadu, said: “Sorry to say, the Central government is politicizing the issue. They are worried about their electoral fate in Karnataka. Election in Karnataka is on May 12 and somehow they don’t want to do it till then. We have enough of it, it is brazen partisanship of the Union of India. It is the end of co-operative federalism.”
The court said that even if the Centre has not framed the scheme, Karnataka, under the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal award, was obliged to make monthly releases to Tamil Nadu.
The court directed the next hearing of the matter on Tuesday.