Karnataka’s Cauvery Water Appeal to Come Up Before Supreme Court on September 14

Karnataka’s petition challenging the direction to release Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu is scheduled to come up before the Supreme Court on September 14, Water Resources Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy said on Friday.

Karnataka has challenged the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) order directing the state to ensure a daily flow of 6,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu for 15 days. The CWMA had upheld the recommendation of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC).

Chaluvarayaswamy said Karnataka continued releasing water until the Supreme Court hearing based on legal advice, as directly defying the CWRC direction could have affected the state’s petition.

The minister said Karnataka was facing an acute water shortage, while the government was also required to comply with judicial and regulatory directions under the federal framework.

According to Chaluvarayaswamy, the quantity of Cauvery water released to Tamil Nadu this year is the lowest in two decades. He said the state had faced similar difficult situations in the past, when substantially larger quantities of water were released.

He said the government was supplying irrigation water to farmers on a rotational basis and working to replenish lakes and tanks. It also plans to maintain adequate reserves in four major Cauvery basin reservoirs to meet drinking-water requirements between December and June.

Chaluvarayaswamy said the government did not want to politicise the Cauvery dispute and urged Karnataka BJP MPs and Union ministers to help secure Centre’s approval for the Mahadayi and Mekedatu projects, which he described as potential long-term solutions to the state’s water concerns.

He said discussions had been held with Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil on Mekedatu and expressed confidence that approval would be obtained soon.

On cloud seeding, the minister said the initial phase had not produced the expected results but hoped favourable weather after the Gauri-Ganesha festival would improve its effectiveness.