TN govt to oppose Centre’s clarification plea on Cauvery issue

Tamil Nadu will oppose at the admission stage the Centre’s clarification petition in the Supreme Court on the Cauvery issue, said the Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.

In a statement today, he said the Centre has filed a clarification petition on the Supreme Court’s final order of February 2018. The Court had upheld the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal on the establishment of a Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee. The Court had granted a six-week deadline to the Centre for establishing the system to share the waters between the riparian States in the dispute between Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.

With the deadline running out on March 29 without the Centre setting up the system for water sharing, he had discussed the issue with senior ministers and secretaries on further course of action, he said.

Based on this the State government had filed a contempt petition against the Centre today and has urged the Court to take up the issue on April 2.

However, the Centre has subsequently filed a clarification petition seeking an explanation whether the plan to share the waters mentioned in the order meant only a management board or any mechanism to be put in place by the Centre. The government has also sought three months time on this issue.

The Chief Minister said in the statement the Centre could have filed this clarification petition immediately after the Court had pronounced its order. The State government will oppose the petition at the admission stage and urge the Court to pass an order to the Centre to set up the Cauvery Management Board and Regulation Committee, he said in the statement.