Cauvery Dispute: K'taka terms TN's plea as untenable in SC, cites monsoon failure

The Karnataka government on Thursday told the Supreme Court that Tamil Nadu's application demanding release of water from Cauvery river is wholly misconceived as it is based on an erroneous assumption that this water year is a normal one, and not a distressed water year.

The Karnataka government submitted before the Supreme Court that it is not obliged to ensure water prescribed for a normal year, because a distress condition has arisen in the Cauvery basin due to the failure of southwest monsoon.

It said the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) recorded that water inflows into four reservoirs in Karnataka were lesser by 42.5 per cent up to August 9, and Tamil Nadu itself had acknowledged that rainfall is lesser by 25 per cent in its application filed before the Supreme Court.

Karnataka claimed that Tamil Nadu, instead of presenting its case before CWMA, walked out of the meeting and "has to blame itself for failing to use an opportunity before the CWMA".

"Tamil Nadu says it has started sowing Samba rice crop from July 15 onwards. If so, it is still at the transplantation stage," it contended.

Further, it has been said that Karnataka's reasonable needs are at serious risk because the entire current storage plus likely inflow is not sufficient for the crops in Karnataka and for meeting the drinking water requirements of towns and villages, including the megacity of Bengaluru.

Karnataka said that had the Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir-cum-Drinking Water project been constructed, the surplus water to some extent of 13 tmc could have been used during the months of June and July to mitigate the distress in Tamil Nadu.

The affidavit filed by the state's Water Resources Department said that Tamil Nadu's demand for release of 24,000 cusecs per day from the reservoirs in Karnataka is based on an assumption that this water year is a normal water year.

"CMWA cannot be directed to ensure flows, as stipulated by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, in a normal water year, since it has found that "rainfall is lesser by 23 per cent in K.R. Sagar catchment and 22 per cent in Kabini catchment based on the report of Indian Meteorological Department," stated the reply document filed by Karnataka.

Notably, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on August 25 the plea filed by Tamil Nadu demanding release of Cauvery river water from Karnataka dams.

Earlier on Monday, CJI D.Y. Chandrachud had agreed to constitute a bench after senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the state of Tamil Nadu, sought urgent listing of the application seeking release of water.

In its application, Tamil Nadu has sought direction from the top court to Karnataka to ensure the stipulated release for the months of August and September as per the Cauvery Tribunal award as modified by the Supreme Court in 2018.

(With inputs from IANS)