Supreme Court Rejects Karnataka's Plea to Adjourn Hearing on Cauvery Water Sharing Case

Bengaluru, May 16: In a major setback to Karnataka, the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected its plea to adjourn the hearing in the Cauvery water sharing case to July. In the plea, In the plea Karnataka asked the top court to adjourn the hearing as there was no government in the state. The Karnataka government has also objected to the Centre’s draft scheme on the distribution of Cauvery water.

The Kerala government has also raised objection on the draft scheme. According to the Kerala government, the state gets 4% of the water and is expected to pay 15% of the cost towards the board. According to a report published in Hindustan Times, the Kerala government has also demanded that the control of dams and reservoirs should lie with the states as opposed to the Cauvery Management Board. The top court also rejected these objections. However, the Supreme Court has also asked the Centre to file a modified scheme by Thursday.

The central government had filed the draft scheme before the court on Monday. The scheme outlined the process of allocating the share of the waters of the Cauvery River to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka taking in view the court’s February judgment. The Supreme Court had earlier pulled up the Centre for failing to implement the court’s order.

Both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are having water sharing dispute of Cauvery River. On February 16, the Supreme Court reduced the quantity of water Karnataka was asked to supply to Tamil Nadu by 14.75 tmc (thousand million cubic litres). In its verdict on February 16, the Supreme Court had reduced Tamil Nadu's share of water from the river Cauvery while Karnataka's part got a boost. The court had also ordered setting up of the Cauvery Management Board to monitor the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu by Karnataka by March 30. However, the Centre failed to set up the board within the deadline, which triggered protests in Tamil Nadu.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 16, 2018 02:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).