Cauvery water row: Karnataka weighs Supreme Court appeal against CWMA order

New Delhi/Bengaluru: Karnataka Additional Chief Secretary Gaurav Gupta on Tuesday said the state was examining all legal options, including approaching the Supreme Court, after the CWMA upheld the recommendation to release 12,000 cusecs of Cauvery water daily to Tamil Nadu for 15 days.

Gupta, who participated in the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) meeting, said Karnataka expected its appeal against the order to be considered by the Supreme Court along with a pending Cauvery-related matter scheduled for hearing on August 13.

“The direction given by the CWMA is to reiterate the decision taken by the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee. The committee had decided to release 12,000 cusecs for a period of 15 days, to be realised at Biligundlu,” Gupta told reporters in New Delhi.

Gupta said the state would comprehensively examine the various aspects of the order before deciding its legal course. “There are different dimensions to this issue. There are different aspects to the problem. We will examine all of them comprehensively and then take appropriate action regarding the legal remedy available to us, what measures we can take from a legal perspective and how we can secure justice for the state,” he said. Asked whether Karnataka had been treated unfairly by the CWMA, Gupta said the situation was “very dynamic” and cautioned that managing the water situation ahead could be difficult.

“What has happened now is that this is a very dynamic situation. Although prima facie we said that we had been treated unfairly, subsequently, when there was more rainfall in the Cauvery basin, we were able to manage the situation,” he said. Gupta said Karnataka had presented its case before the CWMA and indicated that the state would pursue the matter legally if necessary.