NEW DELHI: Karnataka filed a suit before the apex court of justice, Supreme Court, challenging an interim order of the Cauvery water tribunal directing the state to release 205 thousand million cubic feet of the river water to neighboring Tamil Nadu state.
The petition submitted that the tribunal had no power to grant any interim relief without first deciding at least prima facie that the opponent’s stat had appropriated more than its equitable share.
It contended that the state Govt had always maintained that it had not obstructed the flow of water to the lower riparian state.
The main bone of contention in this issue is a century old dispute over release of the Cauvery river water by Kamataka state, which maintains it would be starved if water from the rain-fed river were released as demanded.
Karnataka promulgated an ordinance seeking to protect, preserve and maintain irrigation in the Cauvery basin of the state and use the new law as a shield against the interim order of the tribunal directing Karnataka to release 205 TMC ft of Cauvery water in a year widespread protests in Tamil Nadu with the ruling all India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MPs threatening to resign.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 2, 1991
