By Express News Service
CHENNAI: Distressed farmers of Cauvery Delta region in Tamil Nadu, State government and political parties are anxiously awaiting the hearing and the decision of the Supreme Court on Monday.
During the hearing, the Centre is expected to submit a draft scheme for distribution of water to Tamil Nadu.
On May 3, when the matter came up, the Centre failed to meet the deadline of the Supreme Court saying it could not finalise the scheme for Cauvery as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet colleagues were busy campaigning for the Karnataka Assembly elections.
With Karnataka elections over, it is expected that the Centre may not drag the matter further
The setting up of Cauvery Management Board (CMB) has been elusive ever since the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) gave its final award in 2007. It took six years to notify the award.
Giving its ruling on appeals against the CWDT’s final award, the Supreme Court on February 16 directed the Centre to constitute the CMB within six weeks. But the order was not obeyed, leading to Tamil Nadu government preferring a contempt petition against the Union government. Already, Tamil Nadu is disappointed as the court reduced the State’s share by 14.5 tmc to 177.25 tmc.
