Don’t notify Cauvery tribunal award, CM tells Manmohan Singh

Chief minister Jagadish Shettar said in the legislative assembly on Monday that he had written to prime minister Manmohan Singh expressing the state’s inability to obey the Cauvery monitoring committee’s (CMC) order to release 12 TMC of water to Tamil Nadu.
Shettar also urged Singh not to issue the notification for implementation of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal(CWDT) verdict. He said CMC had meted out injustice to the state over the issue of release of water to Tamil Nadu.

Coming under attack from the opposition, he tried to put on a brave face by explaining to them that the CMC had drawn a road map for sharing water with Tamil Nadu much before.
“According to documents in our possession, in the distress year, only 6.12 TMC of water had to be released to Tamil Nadu in December. We are not in a position to release even 6.12 TMC of water. How can the same CMC ask the state to release 12 TMC of water? We will bring this matter before the Supreme Court and file a petition,” he said.

The government had released the water to ensure that there should be no legal hurdle to push the case forward. “We have not released water from this (Monday) morning. The state had taken up the legal battle and I request the opposition to work together,” he said.
Senior Congress leader TB Jayachandra reminded the house that the final notification on CWDT award would be issued by December 31 and the government should protect the interests of the state.

Shettar said the state had raised objections against the CWDT award and filed a petition before the Supreme Court. Hence, there should be no process of issuing a final notification.

“I have written a letter to the prime minister urging him to call the meeting of chief ministers of all the states concerned with Cauvery issue to discuss the consequences if the final notification is issued,” he said.

Minister for water resources Basavaraj Bommai said Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s letter to the Centre forced it to issue the final notification on the CWDT award. The Centre took a unilateral decision under influence and without consulting the attorney general or seeking the opinion of the central law department, he said.
The CMC cannot take any decision on issuing the final notification. It acted beyond its jurisdiction and the state government will make the point clear that it will not be feasible to issue the final notification by December 31, Bommai said.

Siddaramaiah said the notification could not be issued so soon when the petition was pending before the tribunal. The Supreme Court has clearly said that the pending petitions have to be disposed of before the final order and hence there is nothing to fear at this stage, he said.

Bommai said the state had got absolute constitutional provision to file a civil suit before the Supreme Court on the issue.