The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Tamil Nadu’s plea seeking Karnataka compliance with directions to release Cauvery water to the neighbouring State. The application will be heard on August 13.
Appearing before Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Monday senior advocate C.S. Vaidyanathan, representing Tamil Nadu, said the continuing shortfall in Cauvery water allocation had placed farmers in the State in a difficult situation.
Tamil Nadu has sought a direction to Karnataka to implement the July 30 decision of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA), which asked Karnataka to release 3,500 cusecs of water daily for 15 days from the Kabini and Krishna Raja Sagara (KRS) reservoirs.
The State has asked that 4.536 TMC of water be released by August 12, corresponding to 3,500 cusecs over 15 days.
Tamil Nadu has also sought directions to address the accumulated shortfall in Cauvery flows. According to its application, the State calculated that 26.954 TMC was due from June 1 to August 12 based on a distress-sharing ratio substantially higher than the 4.536 TMC covered by the latest CWMA direction.
Low flows recorded at Billigundulu
Tamil Nadu told the court that despite interventions by the Cauvery Water Regulations Committee (CWRC) and CWMA, flows recorded at the inter-State point of Billigundulu between July 29 and August 2 remained extremely low, ranging from 158 cusecs to 530 cusecs.
The State alleged that Karnataka had not complied with the directions issued by the Cauvery water management authorities.
Tamil Nadu further claimed that Karnataka had sufficient water stored in its reservoirs. As of August 3, the State said storage stood at 23.078 TMC in KRS, 18.610 TMC in Kabini, 7.827 TMC in Harangi and 28.022 TMC in Hemavathy, taking the combined gross storage to 77.537 TMC.
According to Tamil Nadu recent rainfall in the catchments of Kabini and KRS had increased reservoir storage making the continued shortfall in downstream releases a matter of concern.
Dispute over distress sharing
Tamil Nadu argued that even if Karnataka releases the 3,500 cusecs ordered by the CWMA for 15 days, it would receive only 4.536 TMC, leaving a backlog of around 5.379 TMC based on the distress assessment as of July 28.
The State said that when inflows into Karnataka’s four major Cauvery reservoirs were compared with the 30 year average up to August 3, the pro rata distress sharing ratio worked out to 46.34%. On this basis, Tamil Nadu calculated that 26.95 TMC was due between June 1 and August 12.
The Cauvery dispute has repeatedly brought Tamil Nadu and Karnataka into conflict, particularly during years of inadequate rainfall. Tamil Nadu depends heavily on the river for irrigation in its Cauvery delta, while Karnataka also relies on the basin for agriculture and drinking water.
The Supreme Court’s decision to list Tamil Nadu’s application for an early hearing on August 13 could determine the next steps regarding the release of Cauvery water during the ongoing monsoon season.