SC reduces Tamil du's Cauvery water share

New Delhi, Feb 16: In a setback to Tamil du, the Supreme Court on Friday reduced its share of the Cauvery river water to 177.25 thousand million cubic feet (TMC), down from 192 TMC allocated by a Tribul in 2007.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Amitava Roy and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar reduced the share of the state as it noted that the Cauvery Tribul had not taken into account the 20 TMC of ground water available in Tamil du’s side of the river basin. “In totality, we deem it appropriate to award to the State of Kartaka an additiol 14.75 TMC of water, i.e., 10 TMC (on account of availability of ground water in Tamil du) + 4.75 TMC (for drinking and domestic purposes including such need for the whole city of Bengaluru),” the court said in its order. In view of the allocation of an additiol 14.75 TMC of water to Kartaka, the court said: “The State of Kartaka would now be required to release 177.25 TMC of water at the inter-state border with Tamil du, i.e., at Billigundulu.”

Justifying the cut in the share of Tamil du, the court pointed to the empirical data which suggested that around 20 TMC of groundwater was available in Tamil du — a position which the Tribul did not take into account describing it as a “conjecture”. “Drinking water requirement of the overall population of all the States has to be placed on a higher pedestal as we treat it as a hierarchically fundamental principle of equitable distribution,” said Chief Justice Dipak Misra speaking for the bench. Allocating 4.75 TMC to Bengaluru, the judgment said that Kartaka could use the increased allocation for irrigation and industrial purposes by margilly increasing its area under crop.

While bringing down the allocation for Tamil du, the top court kept intact the allocation made to Kerala and Puducherry by the Tribul. The court directed that as per the Tribul award, the Centre would take steps for setting up the Cauvery Water Magement Board for the implementation of the interim water sharing arrangement, which it said would remain in operation for the next 15 years. (IANS)