Onus on Fali Nariman to protect State's interests on forming Cauvery experts' panel

Union Water Resources Ministry has invited suggestions from riparian states over forming an experts' panel State held an all-party meeting to elicit opinion Fali Nariman will soon to take a final call

With the state government's decision to seek opinion of its legal team on the Central government's proposal to set up an expert committee on Cauvery basin management, onus is on legal luminary, Fali S Nariman to protect the state's interests. Fali S Nariman is the head of the state's legal team on Cauvery dispute.

Setting up of an experts' panel has been proposed by the centre as the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal has not provided a specific formula to share Cauvery water between the riparian states. Besides, if formed, the panel would be authorised to determine the availability of water and thereby weigh the demand and supply options. This has left the state concerned over its interests on sharing the Cauvery water.  The government called an all-party meeting - on Tuesday - to elicit opinion on the centre's proposal and decided to leave it to the legal team to take a final call.

It is learnt that Puducherry has already submitted its observations on setting up of the experts'' panel. Any delay in conveying the state's opinion may have an adverse impact on the state government, reports Kannada Prabha. But at the same time, agreeing to the constitution of the experts' panel too would affect the hearing of special leave petition against Cauvery water disputes tribunal. The Tribunal's verdict has been a detrimental to the state's interests - the state was asked to release water despite the distress year.

Now, it is up to the legal team to uphold the state's interests in the Cauvery water dispute.