Supreme Court (Express photo)
After weeks of delay, the Centre on Monday submitted a draft of the Cauvery management scheme to the Supreme Court for its perusal and approval. Receiving the scheme from Union Water Resource secretary who was personally present in the court, a three-judge bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra said that it needs to examine whether the draft is in consonance with the apex court’s judgment.
A bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said it will not go into “correctness of the scheme” and rather confine itself to whether the scheme was in sync with its judgment. The states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and Karnataka, which are locked in the Cauvery water sharing dispute, have also been given copies of the scheme to verify if it conforms to the earlier order. The matter will again be heard on May 16.
Stating that Prime Minister Modi and his Cabinet colleagues were busy with the poll campaign, the Centre had earlier sought an extension of the deadline. The court had however turned down the request saying, “We are not concerned with Karnataka elections. The scheme should have been finalised by now. States have no role to play.”
Monday’s development comes days after the apex court slammed the Centre for showing “sheer contempt” of court by not framing the scheme to ensure smooth distribution of water among the southern states.
In its February 16 verdict, the Supreme Court had asked the Centre to frame the Cauvery management scheme, which also includes creating the Cauvery management board, within six weeks for smooth release of water from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. It had said the deadline could not be extended.
The top court had then raised the 270 tmcft share of Cauvery water for Karnataka by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu’s share, while compensating it by allowing extraction of 10 tmcft groundwater from the river basin, saying the issue of drinking water has to be placed on a “higher pedestal”.
(With inputs from PTI)