Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments on Monday approached the Supreme Court with their respective pleas against each other over the release of Cauvery water for both the states.
Karnataka, which passed a resolution last week not to release the water, citing shortage of drinking water for its people, moved an application seeking modification of the September 20, order of Supreme Court.
The state government filed application in the morning for permission to postpone the implementation of the court order to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu till January 2017. It said it has come to court after witnessing its people's "acute situation of distress" due to scarcity of drinking water.
It also said its reservoirs do not have sufficient water to supply to its cities including Bengaluru.
The State, represented by advocate Mohan Katarki, reproduced the unanimous resolution passed by both Houses of the State on September 23, that no water should be taken from its reservoirs except to meet the drinking water requirements of the people of the State, including the entire city of Bengaluru.
It said this amount of water, for the time being, would have to be treated as "arrears" to be paid back to Tamil Nadu by the end of the season.
Within hours of the filing of this application, Tamil Nadu hit back by filing an application of its own followed by an urgent mentioning in the post-lunch session before a Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra. The Bench agreed to list the application on September 27. The Bench on September 20 had directed Karnataka to release 6,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to Tamil Nadu till September 27, while raising the quantum fixed by the Supervisory Committee by 3,000 cusecs.
Directing both the states to ensure "law and order" to prevails in their states, the court also ordered asking Centre to constitute within four weeks the Cauvery Water Management Board (CWMB) as directed by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) in its award.
Tamil Nadu asked the apex court not to entertain any one of Karnataka's pleas until it complied with each and every one of the series of three orders the Supreme Court passed for release of Cauvery water. It called Karnataka's maneouvres as a "conscious refusal" to release water to Tamil Nadu.
"The State of Karnataka is acting as judge in its own cause and refusing to comply with the orders passed by this court by consciously failing to ensure the release in spite of the matter being sub-judice before this court," the Tamil Nadu application filed by advocate G Umapathy said.
Tamil Nadu countered that Karnataka's stand that it required the entire storage of water in its four reservoirs to meet drinking water requirements was "totally untenable".
Recounting how Karnataka had issued an Ordinance in 1991 to stall the release of Cauvery water, it said on that occasion, the apex court, while quashing the ordinance, had termed Karnataka's move as "an invitation to lawlessness and anarchy".
