Supreme Court to Hear Tamil Nadu's Plea for Release of Cauvery Water on August 13

A Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana on August 10 agreed to hear on August 13 a plea filed by the Tamil Nadu government seeking directions to Karnataka for the immediate release of its due share of Cauvery water.

The bench took note of submissions by counsel for the Tamil Nadu government that the state was not receiving its due share of Cauvery water in a rain-deficient year, despite orders from the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) and the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA).

The Tamil Nadu government, led by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, had approached the Supreme Court on August 3 after actual water inflows at Biligundlu fell well short of the quantity Karnataka had been directed to release.

In its plea, Tamil Nadu sought a direction to Karnataka to make good an accumulated backlog of about 9.46 TMC of water due at Biligundlu as of July 26, by ensuring releases sufficient to achieve about 7,000 cusecs per day at Biligundlu over 15 days.