Don’t give directions to Parliament on Cauvery: Solicitor General to Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court not to pass any orders asking Parliament to do something or refrain from doing anything on the contentious Cauvery water dispute between TN and Karnataka.

In his short intervention on the debate on establishing a mechanism to give effect to the Cauvery award, solicitor general Ranjit Kumar asked the three-judge bench led by CJI Dipak Misra not to pass any such orders. “The court won’t tell Parliament to do or not to do anything. Or the central government,” the SG, the second senior-most law officer of the government, told the bench.

He cited instances of Narmada and Bhakra Nangal, in which the government had come up with mechanisms, to urge the court not to interfere in the issue. The CJI asked why there was such an “apprehension” in Kumar’s mind, but insisted that court orders if any must be abided by. The bench then reserved orders on the issue after hearing arguments for 28 odd days.