Bengaluru: While hearing an appeal filed by the Tamil Nadu government challenging the central water commission’s (CWC) nod to Karnataka for preparing a detailed project report (DPR) on the Mekedatu dam, the Supreme court on Tuesday said that there was no reason for it to stop Karnataka from doing so.
The Tamil Nadu government had filed an appeal in the apex court after the CWC had given Karnataka a green signal to prepare a DPR. The TN government had also filed a contempt plea against the CWC Chairman, Karnataka water resource minister D K Shivkumar and 3 others for going against the Supreme Court’s February verdict on the Cauvery dispute.
The bench hearing the matter observed, “We could hear the contempt plea filed by the Tamil Nadu government, but how can we hear an application in an already disposed case?”
Tamil Nadu maintained that allowing its neighbouring state to build the dam would be a direct interference in the Cauvery case. However, the counsel representing Karnataka argued that the CWC had merely given its nod for the preparation of a DPR.
In its response, the Supreme Court told the Tamil Nadu counsel that since no decision has been taken, yet, there was no need to worry about it now and that Karnataka could go-ahead and prepare its plan.
The apex court also asked the Centre, as well as, the Karnataka government to file a reply against Tamil Nadu's plea within four weeks. The Centre also assured the bench that no decision would be taken without consulting the Tamil Nadu government.
The two southern states have been at loggerheads over the Mekedatu project as Karnataka maintains that the extra drawing of water will not, in any way, affect the mandatory allocation of water to Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. But, Tamil Nadu contends that “the proposed reservoir would affect the natural flow of river Cauvery and nullifies the final adjudication of the settlement of the centuries-long Cauvery river dispute.”
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