New Delhi: Negating the effect of the resolution passed by the Karnataka legislature, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered it to release 6,000 cusecs of Cauvery river water every day to Tamil Nadu for three days, starting Wednesday.
A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Uday U Lalit also asked the Central government to facilitate a meeting of the executive heads of both states over the next two days to help them find a resolution to the impasse.
Accordingly, the Centre later in the day invited the chief ministers of both states for talks with Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati in Delhi on Thursday.
The bench requested Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to help the two states find a meeting ground but clarified that it was being done only to enable them to iron out differences politically and not because the court felt handicapped in implementing its order.
“We have asked for this not because this court cannot adjudicate or pass appropriate orders in accordance with law to maintain and sustain the rule of law and majesty of law, which are elan vital of our constitutional law. But prior to that we have thought it appropriate that there has to be discussion regard being had to the conceptual federalism prevalent in our democratic body polity,” it maintained.
The bench also reminded Karnataka that a state’s duties were not confined to its own people but also to fellow states in a federal democracy, and that compliance with the court orders was imperative.
“We direct the State of Karnataka to release 6,000 cusecs of water from tomorrow i.e. 28th September, 2016. We are sure that the State of Karnataka shall obey the order without any kind of impediment, obstruction or any other attitude till we take up the matter on 30th September, 2016. Needless to say, the water that has been released will be adjusted in the eventual adjudication,” it directed.
Representing Karnataka, senior advocate Fali S Nariman pointed out that a resolution was passed by both the houses of the Karnataka Assembly to defer the release of water. At this, effectively nullifying the resolution, the court ordered: “The water shall be released despite the resolution… we have issued this direction keeping in mind the deliberation that has taken place and, therefore, we think it appropriate that the State of Karnataka shall follow the order passed by us. We ingeminate and repeat at the cost of repetition that the direction for release of water has been passed for the coming three days despite the resolution passed.”
The hearing saw heated arguments from both sides. While the order was being dictated, Nariman opposed the directions, saying there was no logic in them and the order amounted to a direct confrontation. Tamil Nadu’s lawyer Shekhar Naphade accused Karnataka of an “obstructionist and obstinate” attitude and non-compliance with the court orders.
The court will hear the case next on September 30.
