Chennai, Aug 4:
Charging Karnataka with willful intransigence in releasing the due share of Cauvery water as per schedule, Tamil Nadu has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking timely release of water.
Acting on the advice of legal eagles, Chief Minister Joseph Vijay instructed the filing of the Writ Petition and to pursue the judicial route, since the quantum of water released by Karnataka after a delay of more than a month was much lower than what was due and legitimate, an official release here said.
This development comes close on the heels of the aborted Chief Ministerial-level talks on Monday, hosted by Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, following his plea to Vijay on Saturday not to come and give it up, citing the volatile situation in that state created by pro-Kannada outfits. However, Shivakumar later turned conciliatory. Making a climbdown from the earlier stance of no water release, he batted for releasing water since storage in the state’s reservoirs is comfortable and can’t hold more inflow with heavy rains in the catchment areas.
But the quantum of release is far less than what is due for Tamil Nadu, said the release, detailing the background forcing Tamil Nadu to approach the apex court.