‘Cauvery authority would be a fully empowered body’

Law Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam on Friday said he was hopeful that the proposed Cauvery Water Management Authority would be a “fully-empowered body” and would take care of the requirements of the State even in times of distress.

Mr. Shanmugam, the Minister designated by the State government to monitor the progress of the Cauvery water sharing case in the Supreme Court, told The Hindu that one of the clauses in the court’s order on the draft scheme “clearly stated” that in case of deficiency in the availability of water during any month, its release would be carried out on a pro-rata basis. Even otherwise, the new body would examine “reasonableness of indents” placed by States for water release and order the release within the parameters laid down by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal in the final order of February 2007 and the Supreme Court’s judgment of February 2018.

“What is of critical importance to Tamil Nadu is that functions and powers, as envisaged in the final order of the tribunal, have been provided to the authority,” he explained.

On the issue of the sharing of distress, G. Umapathy, counsel for Tamil Nadu in the case, pointed out that “the days of Karnataka unilaterally deciding the prevalence of distress are gone. Hereafter, it is left to the authority and the Water Regulation Committee to arrive at a conclusion on this issue.”

When his reaction was sought to the court not agreeing to Tamil Nadu’s suggestion to include the term “Board” in the nomenclature of the proposed body, the Law Minister said “what matters to the State is whether the body has been given full powers or not. This has been ensured. What is the use if the term ‘Board’ is incorporated without the body having any powers?”

Mr. Umapathy expressed the hope that once the Centre notified the scheme in the gazette, it would name individuals for the posts of chairman and two full-time members of the authority. “I expect this formality to be over by the end of this month, considering that the water year begins on June 1,” he said.

The body would, in all likelihood, hold its inaugural meeting in the first week of next month, he added.