The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ensure that the Ministry of Water Resources immediately constitutes a Cauvery Management Board and a Cauvery Water Regulation Committee.
In a letter to the Prime Minister today, a copy of which was released to the media, while welcoming the recent notification of the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal on the interstate dispute, she said the creation of the Board and Committee are essential to implement the Tribunal’s orders.
“At the outset, I would like to convey my happiness at the publication of the Final Order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal dated February 5, 2007, in the Gazette of India on February 19, 2013. I would like to sincerely thank you very much for the notification,” she said.
The order is binding on all the parties to the dispute. As per Section 6(2) of the Inter State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, the notification gives the Tribunal’s Order the same effect as that of an Order or a Decree of the Supreme Court.
The Tribunal has said it would be necessary to establish a mechanism responsible for the operation of reservoirs and regulate water releases. It has recommended the establishment of a Cauvery Management Board and a Cauvery Water Regulation Committee.
The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal was constituted on June 2, 1990, to resolve the interstate river dispute between Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Union Territory of Pondicherry.
The Tribunal which estimated the utilisable quantity in the river at 740 thousand million cubic feet (TMC), the normal flow, allocated Tamil Nadu 419 TMC; Karnataka 270 TMC; Kerala 30 TMC; and Pondicherry 7 TMC. In addition, 10 TMC is estimated for environmental protection and 4 TMC for ‘inevitable seepages.’ When there is a shortage, the “allocated shares shall be proportionately reduced.”
The Order also determines the monthly release of water to be made by Karnataka, the upper riparian State to Tamil Nadu.