The Supreme Court verdict on Cauvery water dispute is out, and it is Karnataka that appears to have won the final round of legal battle. The Cauvery river is a south Indian river which flows through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Both the states have been at loggerhead for their ‘due share’ of Cauvery river. Here’s what has happened so far:
1. The dispute began with Karnataka’s demand of ‘equitable sharing of the waters’ after it expanded farming activities in the Cauvery basin. It claimed that the previous agreements, which happened between erstwhile Madras Presidency and Kingdom of Mysore in 1924, were highly skewed to what is present day Tamil Nadu. According to reports, Tamil Nadu used to get about 602 TMC of the total water, leaving only about 138 TMC for Karnataka.
2. Despite the multi-round of talks, two southern states couldn’t decide the share acceptable to both the parties. In 1990, the union government set up a Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal or CWDT to look into inter-state river water disputes.
3. In 2007, the Tribunal came out with its order. The Tribunal found the total water of the river 740 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) which it divided (majorly) in Karnataka (270) and Tamil Nadu (419 TMC). Rest of the water was divided into two other states and several other basins. It gave Kerala: 30 TMC, Kabini sub-basin: 21 TMC, Bhavani sub-basin: 6 TMC, Pambar sub-basin: 3 TMC, the Union Territory of Pondicherry: 7 TMC. The Tribunal also awarded 10 TMC for environmental protection and 4 TMC for inevitable escapages into the sea.
4. The CWDT also directed Karnataka to release 192 TMC of Cauvery water in normal monsoon year. Karnataka government wasn’t satisfied with the Tribunal’s order. It moved to the Supreme Court claiming for 312 TMC of water. In between, Karnataka stopped releasing water to Tamil Nadu on various occasion, citing shortage.
5. During the course of the pendency of appeals, the highest court passed several orders directing Karnataka to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. On September 30, 2016, the Supreme Court had pulled up Karnataka for not complying with the order and said no one would know when the wrath of the law would fall on it.
6. Later, Karnataka had moved a review petition in the apex court against its three orders on the issue. It said grave miscarriage of justice was caused to it following the three apex court orders of September 20, 27 and 30, 2016. In all these orders, Karnataka was directed to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.
7. Today, the apex court directed the Karnataka government to release 177.25 TMC of water to Tamil Nadu, 14.75 TMC lesser than what was allotted by the tribunal in 2007. The Tribunal – in its 2007 order – had asked the Karnataka to release 192 TMC of water. After today’s judgement, Karnataka will get 284.75 TMC and Tamil Nadu will get 404.25 TMC of Cauvery water.
