New Delhi: The Supreme Court on November 15 took strong exception to a letter written by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee saying she had no confidence in the Cauvery River Authority headed by him and asked her to withdraw the "insinuations" within four days.

A Bench comprising Justice Y K Sabharwal and justice Arijit Pasayat termed the letter as unfortunate and Tamil Nadu's counsel K K Venugopal said the state had full faith in the Prime Minister and the CRA headed by him.

He submitted that the Chief Minister would send a letter to the Prime Minster "very soon" withdrawing the insinuations and expressing confidence in the authority.

The court directed solicitor general Kirit Raval to find out the date on which CRA would meet and posted the hearing of the case to November 22.

"We were distressed to read the contents of the November 5 letter written by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to the Prime Minister. It is unfortunate that a sort of lack of faith has been communicated in that letter against CRA in general and the Prime Minister of the country in particular," the judges observed.

Venugopal told the court that the Chief Minister would "soon" send a letter to the Prime Minister "withdrawing the insinuations and expressing confidence."

Asking Tamil Nadu to respond to the affidavit filed by Karnataka, the court said Tamil Nadu should initiate action within four days so that the Bench had definite information about the date of convening the next CRA meeting. It also directed the solicitor general to take instructions in this regard.

PTI