New Delhi: The Supreme Court on October 11 issued notices to Karnataka Chief
Minister S M Krishna, Water Resources Minister H K Patil and state chief secretary
on a contempt petition filed by Tamil Nadu accusing its neighbour of not releasing
Cauvery water as ordered by the court on October 4.
Dispensing with the personal appearance of the three, a Bench comprising
Justice V N Khare, Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S B Sinha directed
them to file their reply on or before October 22 and kept the matter for
further hearing on October 24 along with the previous contempt petition
filed by Tamil Nadu.
Appearing for Tamil Nadu, senior advocate K K Venugopal said Karnataka had
not released a single drop of water since the October 4 order of the court
directing it to release 9,000 CUSECS of water daily as per the Cauvery River
Authority's decision.
Tamil Nadu said due to non-release of water since June this year, the entire
Kuruvai crop was destroyed and the Samba crop could not be cultivated and
estimated loss suffered by the state was to the tune of Rs 239
crore.
Tamil Nadu had filed the petition on the ground that Karnataka did not
honour the Supreme Court's October 4 order directing it to release 9000
CUSECS (approximately 0.8 tmcft) water daily to it.
The earlier contempt petition accused the respondents of not obeying the
September 3 order by which Karnataka was directed to release 1.25 tmcft
water daily.
PTI
