Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s final award

Bowing to the Supreme Court orders and rejecting Karnataka's opposition, the Central government notified the Cauvery Tribunal award after six years. This is now meant to settle once and for all the on-going tussle between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over the waters of the river Cauvery. The 121-year Cauvery dispute took a new course with the Centre notifying the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s final award on Feb 19, 2013. The award comes into effect immediately. “This order shall come into operation on the date of publication of the tribunal’s decision in the official gazette,” the notification said. The tribunal had given the award on February 5, 2007, but its notification was kept pending because all riparian states had moved the SC.

According to the award notified today, Karnataka is to release 182tmcfeet water to Tamil Nadu. In addition Tamil Nadu is to get 10tmcfeet for environmental purposes. Tamil Nadu will have to release 7 tmcfeet to Puducherry. These releases will be monitored by the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee for the next five years. Karnataka had released just only 205 tmcft under the interim award for the past six years.

The tribunal had given Tamil Nadu 419 tmcft, Karnataka 270 tmcft, Kerala 30 tmcft and Puducherry 7 tmcft. It had reserved 10 tmcft for environment protection and determined 4 tmcft for “inevitable escapages into the sea”. The Cauvery Management Board, which Karnataka has strongly opposed since it takes away the state’s supervisory powers, was one of the tribunal’s recommendations. It doesn’t form part of the gazette as it requires a separate notification.

That Cauvery Management Board has not been constituted is a major relief for Karnataka. The award stipulates that 20% of the quantum of water diverted from the Cauvery basin will be utilized for drinking purpose, and 2.5% for industrial use. Of the 270.11 tmcft allotted to Karnataka, 17.22 tmcft (including 8.7 tmcft to Bangalore) has been earmarked for urban areas. The award has lifted the 11.2-lakh-acre irrigation embargo for Karnataka, and fixed a new ceiling of 18.85 lakh acres.

Karnataka government has been opposing the notification and Tamil Nadu wanting it notified. Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, constituted on 2 June, 1990, had passed the final award on February 5, 2007 but the award was not put in operation as the Centre did not notify it in official gazette.

Ticking off the Centre for "flouting the law" for the last five years, the Supreme Court on February 4 set a February 20 deadline to notify Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal award, saying it has no discretion or choice but to do so. Once a gazette notification is issued, the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) chaired by the Prime Minister and the Cauvery Monitoring Committee will cease to exist.

As Karnataka assembly goes to polls May, the Centre's notification is likely to create trouble for the Congress. Farmers and Kannada organizations had planned protests ahead of the notification. The government has stepped up security in the Cauvery basin delta areas and prohibitory orders are put in place around the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) reservoir near Mysore.

          Speaking to the reporters in Chennai, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said she was happy to see the notification and also she said in detail how Tamil Nadu struggled in the water dispute.