Karnataka told the Supreme Court that Tamil Nadu’s application was based on the assumption that the rainfall had been normal this year.
Published Aug 24, 2023 | 10:24 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 24, 2023 | 10:24 PM
Supreme Court of India. (Wikimedia Commons)
The Karnataka government on Thursday, 24 August, opposed Tamil Nadu’s application for the release of 24,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of Cauvery water at Billigundulu for the 14-31 August period to meet the urgent irrigation requirement of its standing crop.
Opposing Tamil Nadu’s application for the release of Cauvery water to realise its share of allocation for the second half of August, the Karnataka government in its affidavit said that Tamil Nadu’s application was based on the assumption that the rainfall had been normal this year, but that was not so.
The Karnataka government said that Tamil Nadu seeking direction for the release of 36.76 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water in September had no legal foundations as the release of such quantity of water was stipulated only in a normal water year and not in a distress water year.
Stating that the Tamil Nadu application is based on an “erroneous assumption” that this was a normal rain year, the Karnataka government in its affidavit said that up to 9 August, the shortfall in the rains was 25 percent.
Consequently, the inflow of water in four reservoirs in the state was lower by 42.5 percent, as recorded by the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA).
“During this water year, the Southwest Monsoon has largely failed so far. Due to the failure of the Southwest Monsoon, a distress condition has arisen in the Cauvery basin in Karnataka. Karnataka, therefore, is not obliged to and it cannot be compelled to ensure water as per the stipulated releases prescribed for the normal year,” stated the affidavit by the state government.
The affidavit, in response to Tamil Nadu’s application in the Supreme Court seeking direction to Karnataka to release its share of allocated water, came a day before the top court was to hear Tamil Nadu’s application on Friday.
The Tamil Nadu application — seeking direction to Karnataka to release its share of water awarded by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) and modified by the top court on 16 February, 2018 — will be heard by a bench comprising Justice BR Gavai, Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha, and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra.
The Karnataka government, in its affidavit, questioned the urgency being shown by Tamil Nadu, claiming that the ground of saving its standing crops was wholly misleading because the permissible area of the Kuruvai rice crop cultivation, which started on 12 June and goes up to the end of September, requires 32.27 tmcft of water as estimated by the CWDT.
“If 32.27 tmcft is the total requirement for the Kuruvai rice crop which goes up to end of September; the water requirement up to 23 August was 22.44 tmcft and in the remaining period of the season from 18 August to the end of September is about 9.83 tmcft (32.27 tmcft = 22.44 tmcft + 9.83 tmcft). Tamil Nadu says it started sowing the Samba rice crop from 15 July. If so, it is still at the transplantation stage,” the affidavit stated.
Besides seeking direction for the release of 24,000 cusecs of water at Billigundulu, Tamil Nadu has also sought direction to the Karnataka government to ensure the stipulated releases of 36.76 tmcft of water for September as per the CWDT award, as modified by the top court in 2018.
Tamil Nadu has sought further direction to the Karnataka government to make good the shortfall of 28.849 tmcft of water for the current irrigation year from 1 June to 31 July.
It has further sought direction to the CWMA to ensure that the quantum of Cauvery water that Karnataka has to release to Tamil Nadu is fully implemented and the stipulated monthly releases during the remaining period of the current water year are fully given effect.
Tamil Nadu in its application said that the “deficit in supply at Billigundulu as on 9 August, which was 37.971 tmcft, has to be ensured in addition to the demand of around 24,000 cusecs, in the month of August, is required to save the standing crops”.
Pointing out that the CWRC in its 84th meeting on 10 August had directed Karnataka to release water from its reservoirs so that 15,000 cusecs of water was released at Billigundulu from 11 August (from 8 am) for the next 15 days, Tamil Nadu said: “Unfortunately, even this quantum of water was arbitrarily reduced to 10,000 cusecs by the CWMA in its 22nd meeting held on 11 August at the instance of Karnataka.”
It added: “Regretfully, even this amount of 10,000 cusecs to be ensured at Billigundulu by releasing such quantum of water from the KRS and Kabini reservoirs has not been complied with by the state of Karnataka.”
