The Centre and Tamil Nadu on Saturday moved the Supreme Court on the issue of constitution and composition of the Cauvery Management Board in compliance with the February 16 apex court verdict on the decades-old river water-sharing dispute.
The Centre sought three-months time to implement the apex court order due to the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections. Besides extension of time, the Centre asked for clarification on various issues for formulation of a “scheme” for implementing the decision of the top court.
Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, sought contempt action against the Centre for “failure” to frame the scheme for constitution of the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee within six weeks as directed by the apex court on February 16.
The Centre, in its petition, said that since there were divergent views between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on the constitution of the CMB, the apex court should clarify whether “it is open to the central government to frame the scheme under 6A at variance with the recommendations contained in the report of the CWDT (Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal) regarding the Cauvery Management Board”.
Karnataka has opposed constitution of the CMB and sought some alternative mechanism in place of any such board for complying with the scheme to implement the verdict.
The Union government also said considering overall sensitivity of the issues involved, the apex court may also clarify whether it has any flexibility in modifying the composition of the CMB to “a mixture of administrative and technical body” and “not purely a technical body” as recommended by the CWDT for effective conduct of the business of the board.
It also wanted clarification on whether the board framed by the central government under Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956 can have functions different from the ones recommended for Cauvery Management Board by the CWDT in its report.
The Centre told the apex court that the Cauvery issue is “very emotive” in Karnataka and since the Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced the schedule for Assembly elections to Karnataka on March 27, the constitution of the CMB may result in serious law and order situation.
“If the central government is to constitute a scheme under 6A of the ISWRD Act, 1956 and notify it during the state Vidhan Sabha election process, the central government fears that it would lead to a massive public outrage, vitiate the election process and cause serious law and order problem,” it said.