Cauvery Verdict: Supreme Court directs Karnataka to release 177.25 TMC of water to Tamil Nadu yearly

The Supreme Court today pronounced its verdict in the Cauvery dispute, directing Karnataka to release 177.25 thousand million cubic (TMC) feet of water to Tamil Nadu on a yearly basis..The Court also allocated 14.75 TMC ft of water to Karnataka over and above the Cauvery Tribunal award of 270 TMC ft allocated to the state. Of the 14.75 TMC, 4.75 TMC will be for Bengaluru only, to be used as drinking water..Further, it upheld the Tribunal order granting 30 TMC ft of water to Kerala and 7 TMC ft of water to Puducherry..The direction was given by a Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, along with Justices Amitava Roy and AM Khanwilkar. The Bench observed that water bodies are national assets, and that no one state could claim rights over them. It also directed states to show no deficiency in complying with its order..The Karnataka-Tamil Nadu dispute over the waters of the Cauvery river has its roots in two agreements in 1892 and 1924 between the erstwhile Madras Presidency and Princely State of Mysore, one that outlived its utility long ago, but sowed the seeds of lasting discontent between the States..After several rounds of failed negotiations, the Supreme Court directed the constitution of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, which gave its award in 2007, allowing Tamil Nadu to draw from the reservoir a fixed amount of water every day..However, the dispute continued after both the States filed a petition in the tribunal to review the decision..In 2016, Tamil Nadu again petitioned the Supreme Court as Karnataka submitted that it had no more water to share from its reservoir. The Court passed an order on September 5 directing Karnataka to release 15000 cusecs of water per day for 10 days. This triggered widespread protests in Karnataka and their government hurriedly moved an application seeking modification of the order of September 5..The application was heard on September 12, 2016, by Justices Dipak Misra and UU Lalit, who directed that Karnataka is required to release 12000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu per day till September 20. On that date, the Court asked the Centre to constitute a Cauvery Management Board (CMB), an expert resolution body within four weeks. It also directed the Karnataka government to release 6000 cusecs of water per day till September 30..Read the judgment: