In a goodwill gesture, the Karnataka Government today agreed before the Supreme Court to release 10,000 cusecs of water from the Cauvery river to Tamil Nadu till September 20.
In the wake of Karnataka’s gesture, a bench of Justices D. K. Jain and Madan Lokur refused to pass any order on Tamil Nadu’s plea for direction to its neighbouring State to release 2 TMC of water. The bench hoped the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) headed by the Prime Minister would be able to find an “amicable” solution to the river water dispute.
The court also disposed of Karnataka’s plea, saying if it is kept pending, the authority might not find a solution to the dispute and it will ultimately be left to it to decide it.
The bench, however, allowed the State Governments to take appropriate steps if the CRA meeting does not take place.
The CRA, comprising the Chief Ministers of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala, is scheduled to take place on September 19.
The bench, which had earlier pulled up PMO officials for not fixing a date for the CRA meeting, also took a dig today at the Centre whose lawyers were absent during the hearing of the case.