Karnataka agrees to release 10K cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu

In a goodwill gesture, the Karnataka government on Monday agreed before the Supreme Court to release 10,000 cusecs of water from Cauvery river to Tamil Nadu till September 20.

In wake of Karnataka's gesture, a Bench of Justices D K Jain and Madan Lokur refused to pass any order on Tamil Nadu's plea for direction to its neighbouring state to release 2 TMC of water. The Bench hoped the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) headed by the Prime Minister would be able to find an "amicable" solution to the river water dispute.

The court also disposed of Karnataka's plea, saying if it is kept pending, the authority might not find a solution to the dispute and will be ultimately left to it to decide it.

The Bench, however, allowed the state governments to take appropriate steps if the CRA meeting does not take place.

The CRA, comprising chief ministers of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala, is scheduled to take place on September 19.

The Bench, which had earlier pulled up the PMO officials for not fixing a date for the CRA meeting, also took a dig today at the Centre whose lawyers were absent during the hearing of the case.

"As a goodwill gesture, the state of Karnataka, by way of ad-hock arrangement, is willing to release extra water in order to ensure that on and from September 12, 10,000 cusecs flow of water is ensured only till September 20," the Bench said in its order.

The Bench said the CRA should explore the solution and it should not be left for the court to take a decision on the controversial issue.

"We expect and hope that the meeting of CRA takes place and some amicable solution to the problem is found," the Bench said.

The Bench, however, clarified that it is only an interim arrangement till September 20 and the state governments can take appropriate steps if no solution of the problem comes out of the CRA meeting.

... contd.

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