New Delhi: Keeping in mind the continuing row between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over the sharing of Cauvery river water, the Supreme Court on September 2 asked the Centre whether the rivers could be put in the Central List of the Constitution.

"Is it possible to put rivers under List I of the Constitution because this (water sharing) problem is going to happen in case of every river," a Bench comprising Chief Justice B N Kirpal, Justice K G Balalkrishnana and Justice Arijit Pasayat said while hearing Tamil Nadu's petition accusing Karnataka of violating Tribunal orders on water sharing. The Bench posted the matter for September 3.

Appearing for the Union government, solicitor general Harish Salve submitted that that Cauvery River Authority (CRA) meeting held on August 27 under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and attended by the two Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka remained inconclusive, as there was "no unanimity" on release of water.

He said a meeting of Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) would be called shortly to evolve a distress formula for pro-rata sharing of water.

Objecting to this, Karnataka's counsel S S Javeli said neither the CRA nor CMC had recorded in any minutes about the urgency of the situation requiring release of more water.

Tamil Nadu's counsel K K Venugopal said Karnataka was not prepared to release even one TMC feet water resulting in extensive damage to Kuruvai crops leading to starvation and a situation where people were forced to eat rats. The court should direct Karnataka to comply with an interim order of the tribunal to facilitate cultivation of samba crop.

PTI