The Supreme Court is likely to pronounce on Friday its verdict on the decades-old Cauvery water dispute between riparian south Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud had on 20 September last year reserved the verdict on the appeals filed by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala against the 2007 award of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal (CWDT) on sharing of water.
File image of Supreme Court of India. AP
The decades-old Cauvery water dispute was decided unanimously by CWDT in 2007, after determining the total availability of water in the Cauvery basin at 740 thousand million cubic feet at the Lower Coleroon Anicut site, including 14 thousand million cubic feet for environmental protection.
The final award makes a yearly allocation of 419 thousand million cubic feet to Tamil Nadu in the entire Cauvery basin, 270 thousand million cubic feet to Karnataka, 30 thousand million cubic feet to Kerala and 7 thousand million cubic feet to Puducherry.
The top court had earlier clarified that any other forum could touch the matter relating to the Cauvery river basin only after it gives its verdict.
The apex court had in January said the verdict would be pronounced within a month, adding that the matter has already created enough confusion for decades.
The top court during the course of pendency of appeals of the neighbouring states against the arbitral award of 2007, had passed several orders directing Karnataka to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.
On 30 September, 2016, the Supreme Court had pulled up Karnataka for its repeated "defiance" in flouting its orders for releasing Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu and said no one would know when the "wrath of the law" would fall on it.
Later, Karnataka had moved a review petition in the apex court against its three orders on on the issue and direction to the Centre to create the Cauvery Water Management Board (CWMB), saying "grave miscarriage of justice" had been caused to it following the three apex court orders of 20, 27 and 30 September, by which it was directed to release water.
Tamil Nadu had earliar also alleged that Kerala was drawing water in excess of what has been allocated to it by the tribunal.
The apex court had on 9 December, 2016 upheld the maintainability of appeals filed by the riparian states saying it has the "jurisdiction to decide the parameters, scope, authority and jurisdiction of the tribunal".
The court had rejected the Centre's objection that the CWDT award amounted to a final decree and it had no jurisdiction to hear the appeals against the award.
Published Date: Feb 16, 2018 09:04 AM | Updated Date: Feb 16, 2018 09:07 AM
Highlights
Security beefed up across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have enforced massive security arrangements in place, hours ahead of the Supreme Court's verdict on the long-standing dispute between the two states.
Tamil Nadu state transport to not run buses to Karnataka today
As a precautionary measure, the Tamil Nadu state transport corporation has decided against running bus services to Karnataka, India Today reported. In all, about 180 bus services operate between the two states every day.
09:07 (IST)
Security beefed up across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have enforced massive security arrangements in place, hours ahead of the Supreme Court's verdict on the long-standing dispute between the two states.
09:03 (IST)
Tamil Nadu state transport to not run buses to Karnataka today
As a precautionary measure, the Tamil Nadu state transport corporation has decided against running bus services to Karnataka, India Today reported. In all, about 180 bus services operate between the two states every day.
08:39 (IST)
Pre-Independence agreements were between Mysore Maharaja and British govt: Karnataka's irrigation minister
"We have argued on four major planks. One, we have challenged the validity of the pre-Independence agreements of 1892 and 1924 as those were between the Mysore Maharaja and the British government. These should cease to be valid after we got freedom."
"Second, the Cauvery tribunal’s award did not look at the latest requirement of Karnataka, which has increased since Independence and the requirements of both states are more or less equal now," Hindustan Times quoted Karnataka's irrigation minister MB Patil as saying.
08:18 (IST)
SC bench had reserved verdict on 20 September last year
The bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Amitava Roy and Justice AM Khanwilkar had reserved the verdict on 20 September, 2017 after hearing the matter for 29 days spread over eight months.
Both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had approached the top court soon after the 2007 award was announced, assailing it on several counts.
The Centre had opposed the top court adjudicating over the Cauvery River Water Dispute Award, contending that the appeals by the three states and the union territory of Puducherry were not maintainable as under the Constitution's Article 262 read with Section 11 of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, the top court was barred from hearing the appeals. — IANS