New Delhi: Acting on the Supreme Court's direction, the Centre Friday constituted a Cauvery Water Management Authority (CMA) to address the dispute over sharing of river water among Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry.
On February 16, the apex court had directed the government to form the CMA within six weeks in a verdict that marginally increased Karnataka’s share of Cauvery water, reduced the allocation for Tamil Nadu and sought to settle the protracted water dispute between the two southern states.
In a gazette notification, the ministry of water resources said it has framed a scheme constituting the CMA and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee to give effect to the decision of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal as modified by the Supreme Court order.
The authority would comprise a chairman, eight members besides a secretary. Out of eight members, two each will be full-time and part-time members, while the rest four would be part-time members from states.
The chairman of the authority should either be a "senior and eminent engineer" with an experience of water resource management and handling of inter-state water dispute or an IAS officer with an experience in water resources management and handling the inter-state dispute.
He will have the tenure of five years or until he reaches the age of 65, whichever is earlier. An emotive issue in all the states concerned and Puducherry, the demand to constitute the authority was one of the reasons behind disruption of the Budget Session by the members of the AIADMK who demanded the constitution of the board.
The apex court, in its verdict delivered on February 16, had asked the Centre to frame the Cauvery management scheme, including creation of the Cauvery Management Board.
