What washed out the Karnataka Cauvery argument in SC?
- Here is a point by point detail of the Supreme Court proceedings as they took place yesterday, that led to the modified verdict.
- Karnataka again received a verdict that wasn't in its favour by the Supreme Court.
- Asianet Newsable analyses what led to the new verdict
FollowKarnataka's plea:
Karnataka requested the SC to cancel its order issued on September 5, or at least change the order if cancellation was not possible. The order instructed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water every day to Tamil Nadu. The Karnataka government appealed against it and said that releasing 15,000 thousand cusecs per day was not possible due to shortage of water in the state. Besides, the verdict made it difficult to maintain law and order in the state, it said.
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What was SC's reply to the plea?
The Supreme Court stated that it was not possible to cancel the order issued on September 5 and that the plea cannot be accepted on the basis of law and order maintenance. It said that Karnataka cannot influence the court in the name of people’s opinion. It is the government’s responsibility to follow the court’s order. Otherwise it will be considered as failure of governance.
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Fali S Nariman, Karnataka's advocate, regretted the government’s failure in maintaining law and order and tried to convince the court that Tamil Nadu doesn’t need that much water immediately. So far Karnataka has released 84,000 cusecs of water since September 5, out of which Tamil Nadu has used just 1,250 cusecs of water. Besides he told to the SC that North-East Monsoon rains are expected in Tamil Nadu in the near future.
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What was Tamil Nadu’s argument?
Karnataka has used excess water in the months of June, July and August. Tamil Nadu needs 50 TMC of water per month. North-East Monsoon rains, it said, are expected in the month of October. It requested the SC to release the water it was meant to receive from Karnataka, and said it will utilise the water when required.
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What was the Supreme Court verdict?
The Supreme Court ordered Karnataka to release 12,000Â cusecs of water till September 20. Further trial will be done after September 20.
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What did Karnataka get out of this?
Less than what it bargained for. Karnataka approached the court for relief, but now it has to release an extra 33,000 cusecs of water according to the new order. From the previous order where Karnataka had to release 13 TMC of water, it has to release 16 TMC instead. So far 84,000 cusecs of Cauvery water has flown to Tamil Nadu and now, another 96,000 cusecs will flow in the coming days.
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