Karnataka today asserted it has never violated any Supreme Court order on the Cauvery water sharing issue and rejected the Tamil Nadu’s contention that it had committed contempt of court.
“Karnataka government has not violated the Supreme Court order on Cauvery issue. I have never said that I will not release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu,” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told reporters at Davanagere, some 265 kms from here.
Siddaramaiah said there was a deficit in inflows and storage level in reservoirs in Karnataka and hence it was not feasible for sharing Cauvery water with Tamil Nadu.
“There is hardly any water available in Kabini, Cauvery, Hemavathy and Varahi dams in the state. In this context is it feasible for us to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu? We have placed these details before the apex court as well,” he clarified.
Siddaramaiah argued that Karnataka was keen on solving the vexed issue with Tamil Nadu through negotiations but the neighbouring state had shown “least interest” in this regard.
The Cauvery Supervisory Committee on June 13 rejected Tamil Nadu’s demand for its share of water saying it was not feasible, given the deficit in inflows and storage level in reservoirs in Karnataka.
Following this, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa took the decision to approach the apex court with a contempt petition.
Slamming the stand of Karnataka that the Supervisory Committee on Cauvery was not properly formed and it cannot take any decisions, Jayalalithaa said, “this amounts to contempt of court.”
The Committee, however, had promised Tamil Nadu that it would review the situation during the first week of July.