New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday lambasted Karnataka for defying its order citing law and order situation in the state and said such a stand “if we allow ourselves to say so, is absolutely disturbing and to say the least, totally deprecable”.
A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Uday Lalit at a special sitting, despite the court being a holiday, directed Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu from Monday till September 20.
Karnataka said it was necessitated because of the spontaneous agitations in the various parts of Karnataka including Bengaluru, Mandya, Mysore and Hassan in the Cauvery basis which has paralysed the normal life besides destroying the public and private properties.
Senior counsel Fali S. Nariman, appearing for the state of Karnataka submitted that the application has been erroneously drafted, but the prayer, in essence, requires a hearing. He pleaded for modification of the September 5 order as otherwise Karnataka would suffer immensely as there will be shortage of drinking water and water for irrigation.
Senior counsel Shekar Naphade and Rakesh Diwedi for TN opposed the application and contended that at law and order situation can never be a ground for keeping the court’s order in abeyance or modification of the same and faulted it for wrong facts. The bench directed the matter to be listed for further hearing on September 20.
Rajnath Singh speaks to two CMs
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh called up CMs of Karnataka and TN on Monday night and assured them all central assistance in handling law and order situation in the two states which have been hit by violence over Cauvery dispute. The Home Minister spoke to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and reviewed the situation in Bengaluru and other parts of the state where violence erupted over the Cauvery water sharing dispute. Separately, Singh also called up Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and enquired about the situation in Tamil Nadu, where similar violence reported.
