The Tamil Nadu Government has approached the Supreme Court to prevent Karnataka from using the Cauvery water stored in its four main reservoirs for irrigation between February and May.
This demand is in line with the final order of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal on February 5, 2007.
On March 21, 2012, the Tamil Nadu Government filed the interim petition in the Supreme Court seeking an order to stop Karnataka from using the water stored in the Harangi, Hemavathi, Krishnaraja Sagar and the Kabini during the summer months, said the Chief Minister, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, in the Assembly today.
The Tribunal was constituted by an order of the Supreme Court in 1991 to resolve the dispute over the sharing the waters of the multistate river. The Tribunal gave its final order 17 years later in 2007 spelling out how the water has to be shared between Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry.
But the order is yet to be implemented as the issue has been taken to court. Responding to a calling attention motion Ms Jayalalithaa said when Karnataka exploits the water during the summer months Tamil Nadu does not get its fair share at Mettur Reservoir for its own use.
During the monsoons Karnataka lets out only surplus water to Tamil Nadu after all its reservoirs are full. Karnataka disregards the final order of the Tribunal by using the reservoirs' water to irrigate crops during the four months.
Between 2007-08 and 2010-11 Karnataka has utilised 41 to 73 thousand million cubic feet of water for summer irrigation instead of storing it for the next irrigation season. The final order allows Karnataka to use 103 tmcft of water during the irrigation season but the State has utilised over 203 tmcft, she said. Also, Karnataka does not supply water for Tamil Nadu's ‘Kuruvai' paddy crop in June and July.
Ms Jayalalithaa said the final order could have been implemented if it had been published in the Government of India gazette. But all the States concerned in the dispute and the Central Government have approached the Tribunal for clarifications. Also, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala have filed appeals in the Supreme Court and the Centre has also impleaded itself in the case, she said.
She had met the Prime Minister in June 2011 in New Delhi and submitted a petition that included demands to publish the order in the official gazette and constitute a Cauvery Regulatory Authority. She had reiterated these demands in a letter to the Prime Minister on October 17.
Pending implementation of the final order, the Tamil Nadu Government's stand is that the interim order of June 25, 1991, will be in force. The Cauvery Monitoring Committee has also expressed the same opinion in October 16, 2008, in its 23rd meeting.
The Karnataka Government's stand is that the interim order has lapsed following the announcement of the final order. Till the final order is implemented, it should only be a temporary arrangement, a ‘Protem Governing Regime'.