New Delhi: After being postponed twice, the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) is meeting on February 10 on Supreme Court directions to decide on a distress water sharing formula between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, which have been at loggerheads over the issue.

The meeting comes less than a week after the Supreme Court gave a major relief to Tamil Nadu by directing Karnataka to release 4,500 cusecs of water daily till February 10.

Besides, the apex court had ruled on February 6 that the decision of the Prime Minister, who would chair the CRA meeting, would be "final" having the sanctity of a court order.

The court has also made it clear that the February 10 meeting would not be adjourned, as in the past, due to absence of any of the Chief Ministers of four member states – Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Pondicherry.

The last two CRA meetings, convened on November 29 and January 13, were cancelled abruptly due to lack of quorum.

Addressing a conference on freshwater last week, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had appealed to both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to help find a lasting solution to the sharing of Cauvery waters "through mutual understanding and spirit of accommodation" and in overall national interests.

"Tamil Nadu's demand is reasonable. But at the same time, Karnataka's demand is also not unreasonable," he had said apparently referring to conflicting positions of the two states and the drought condition there.

PTI