State may apprise SC of move to form Cauvery expert group

The Karnataka government is likely to apprise the Supreme Court of the Water Resou­rc­es Ministry’s proposal to constitute a Group of Expe­r­ts (GoE) to deal with the Cauvery river water dispute.

Senior advocate Fali S Nariman, head of Karnataka’s legal team on inter-state water dispute, is learnt to have suggested to the state that it should bring the proposal to the apex court’notice when the court resumes hearing on the civil appeals challenging the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal’s (CWDT) final award in July.

For the past two days, Law Minister T B Jayachandra and Water Resources Minister M B Patil, along with state government officials, held marathon meetings with Nariman-headed team here to seek its opinion on the Ministry’s proposal. Nariman also suggested that Karnataka should not accept the Centre's offer to constitute a GoE to deal with the Cauvery river water dispute at "this juncture."

“Nariman gave his opinion on the GoE and made some suggestion to protect the interest of the state in the water dispute. The same will be conveyed to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The state will soon decide its future course of action”, Patil told DH after the meeting on Friday. The Ministry of Water Resources had mooted a proposal to form a GoE to deal with Cauvery water dispute and sought views from basin states including Karnataka.