Cauvery once more

It is unfortunate that the Cauvery issue is back before the Supreme Court (“Cauvery again”, April 3). It should have been the responsibility of the Central government to implement the orders of the apex court. Why did it wait till the expiry of the deadline and then seek clarifications from the court? This move seems to have been intentional — to drag on the issue till the Karnataka elections are over, so that the Bharatiya Janata Party does not lose votes. A responsible government at the Centre, which has been elected by the country and not a particular State, should deal with issues like Cauvery in an unbiased manner. If it shows such a partisan attitude towards one State, it would deprive another of benefits. The court should ensure that there are no ambiguities this time and that the Centre follows its order.

D. Sethuraman,

Chennai

The editorial seems to apportion the entire blame on the Centre, while commenting little on Karnataka and Tamil Nadu’s inflexible and confrontational stand. True, the Central government should try to play the role of a neutral umpire. However, at the same time, when the two States have publicly resolved not to concede an inch over their stated positions, any move from the Centre either by way of creating a board or some other mechanism to implement the verdict would have met with resistance from one of the States or both. What prevented these States from sitting together and seeking a consensus on the mechanisms to implement the Supreme Court’s verdict? By doing this they could have sent out a loud message that State autonomy can be exercised with responsibility and that it poses no threat to the national interest.

V.N. Mukundarajan,

Thiruvananthapuram