Cauvery water dispute: Karnataka to file review petition before SC, CWMA

BENGALURU: The Karnataka government will challenge the Cauvery Water Management Authority’s (CWMA) decision to release 3,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu till October 15. A meeting of prominent retired Supreme Court and high court judges and former advocate generals of the state convened by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday has recommended filing a review petition before the CWMA and the Supreme Court on Saturday.

Former CJI M.N. Venkatachalaiah, retired SC judges Shivaraj Patil, Gopala Gowda, R V Ravindran, former high court judges P Vishwanath Shetty and A N Venugopal Gowda, and former advocate generals B V Acharya, Madhusudhan Naik, Vijayashankar, Uday Holla and Ravivarma Kumar attended the meeting. The chief minister said that the judges have suggested to constitute an advisory committee on irrigation projects to collect data from reservoirs on a daily basis and advise the State Government. The advisory committe consists of experts would also provide guidance to the State advocates who deal with inter-State water dispute cases.

The retired Judges recommended to take-up construction of a balancing reservoir at Mekedatu across River Cauvery in Ramanagar which would store about 67 tmc of water that can be helpful in times of distress.

Siddaramaiah said the Mekedatu project has faced opposition from Tamil Nadu for political reasons while the balancing reservoir at Mekedatu would help both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in meeting the drinking water requirement and for power generation.