Supreme Court asks Centre to mediate in the Cauvery issue

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court told Karnataka to comply with its order to supply 6,000 cusecs of water daily till Friday to Tamil Nadu, brushing off vehement opposition from state counsel Fali Nariman who cited a resolution passed by the state legislature against any further release of water. "We will not release water. We can't. The House has already passed a resolution," Nariman told a bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Uday Lalit. But the court insisted that the state government uphold the "majesty" of the law.

The interim order will continue while the Central government intervenes to soothe flaring tempers in both states and gets the two chief ministers to get back to the negotiating table to explore a settlement to the raging row over Cauvery water. Karnataka insisted that there was no excess water to supply to Tamil Nadu. It cited two successive weak monsoons to claim that it needed the water in its dams to meet the drinking water requirements of the state. Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, said if the monsoon was not good, both sides should get the water pro rata.

When the top court reconvened to hear the case on Tuesday, the Centre offered to step in and mediate a meeting between the two CMs. There was high drama with Nariman refusing to release any more water and Tamil Nadu, through senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, urging the court to crack the whip against the neighbouring for defying the orders.

The bench, however, expressed its reluctance to go after Karnataka for now, saying it was an issue which involved the country's federal structure and efforts must be first made to sort it out. "Wait for three days," it told Naphade.