Make dam storage basis of water share: Cauvery Supervisory Committee

Bengaluru: The state’s legal team arguing the Cauvery case before the Supreme Court as well as the Cauvery Supervisory Committee (CSC), has decided to request CSC to decide the monthly release of water to TN in  a distress situation like the present one, based on the actual water storage in four reservoirs in the Cauvery basin of Karnataka.

The CSC which met at Delhi on Tuesday, had directed all four states to submit detailed statistics regarding usage of water after the final award of Cauvery Disputes Tribunal made almost a decade ago.

According to the final award of the Tribunal, Tamil Nadu has to get its share of 192 tmc ft water from Karnataka. The tribunal has made a provisio that the water sharing formula can be reviewed based on five years experience of water sharing in the basin.

Since the implementation of the final award is overseen by the CSC, it has the power to review its earlier decision on monthly sharing of water based on the ground reality.  Karnataka will therefore request  CSC to invoke this proviso and  review water sharing with Tamil Nadu based on the last five years experience in the Cauvery basin.

Based on this, the quantum of release of monthly water to Tamil Nadu can be modified by the CSC, said R.S. Ravi, senior advocate in the Cauvery legal panel. If CSC considers the last five years’ experience of the state in releasing water to Tamil Nadu, it would help Karnataka adjust its monthly share of water for Tamil Nadu based on its water availability in the four reservoirs , Mr. Ravi added.

Karnataka will also request CSC to send its expert team to the four reservoirs to assess the ground situation. If the expert team visits both states, it would help Karnataka to push its case in CSC, the advocate said.

The CSC has adjourned its hearing to September 19, asking Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry to file detailed statistics regarding sharing of water based on the final award of Cauvery disputes Tribunal.  Mr Ravi said the order of the Supreme Court on the modification plea filed by Karnataka has shocked advocates appearing for Karnataka.

Siddaramaiah move to meet Modi will be a futile exercise: DVS Gowda
Union Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation D.V. Sadananda Gowda said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in the current Cauvery imbroglio was nothing but a 'futile exercise' since a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by Karnataka questioning the final verdict of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal is pending before the Supreme Court.

Talking to Deccan Chronicle, Mr Gowda said he was not unhappy with the decision to meet the PM in Delhi but it was not going to help. He felt the state government had erred by not requesting the apex court to dispatch a team of experts to ascertain the storage of water in the dams to substantiate its contention on poor storage of water.

Unfortunately, the state did not do it at the time of filing an affidavit in the apex court after TN Chief Minister Jayalalithaa sought the court's intervention seeking its direction to release water to save the Samba crop.

Mr Gowda felt Mr Modi, at this juncture, cannot take the side of either Karnataka or Tamil Nadu or comment on this issue as it amounts to contempt of court. Even the PM cannot commit himself to reworking the distress formula till the SLP is disposed of by the court.