The Supreme Court on Wednesday fixed September 21 for hearing the plea filed by Tamil Nadu demanding the release of Cauvery water from Karnataka’s dams.
The matter was mentioned before a bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra after it was deleted from the causelist published for September 6. In its rejoinder affidavit, Karnataka said that it has filed a review petition on September 2 seeking reduction of the quantity to 3,000 cusecs per day after the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) directed it to ensure realisation of flows at the rate of 5,000 cusecs, starting from August 29 for the next 15 days. It said that between August 29 to September 3, Karnataka ensured 37,869 cusecs against the expected 30,000 cusecs of water. “The state of Karnataka is facing a severe drought situation both in Cauvery and Krishna basins, putting a heavy burden on the state government,” said the rejoinder affidavit, adding that it would not be feasible to further release any water from the reservoirs in Karnataka after September 12.
