Supreme Court raps Centre, seeks Cauvery draft by May 3

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Central government for not sticking to the March 29 deadline for framing a scheme to implement the award for distribution of the Cauvery river waters and directed the government to come up with a draft scheme by May 3.

In an apparent reference to protests in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over the delay in constitution of the Cauvery Management Board (CMB), a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said, “We will make sure that the court orders are implemented. You (counsel for Tamil Nadu and Karnataka) tell your competent authorities to ensure peace and not resort to violence in the states.”

“We don’t want anything which will hamper implementation… Please tell your people that when the matter is before us, they must cooperate. When the scheme comes into effect, it will become binding on the Centre and all states,” the CJI added. The Supreme Court’s tough talk came on the eve of a CSK-KKR IPL match in Chennai which is threatened to be jeopardised by pro-Tamil outfit agitating over the Cauvery issue.

A 4,000 strong posse of policemen has been deployed for security on Wednesday for the match amid intensified opposition to the IPL matches being held in Chennai. With Cauvery agitators threatening to hold protests at the match venue, flags, banners, firecrackers, bags, mobile phones and binoculars have been banned inside the stadium. Commandos and rapid action force (RAF) personnel are now part of the security for the match, police said.

Seven IPL matches are scheduled to be held in Chennai between April 10 and May 20.

In the Supreme Court, the bench, also comprising Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud, was critical of the fact that despite specific direction on the setting up of the water-sharing scheme within six weeks, the Centre has been unable to do so.

Seeking a draft scheme by May 3, the court said that the court will approve the draft after hearing views of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry.

“When the scheme comes into effect, it will become binding on the Centre and all states,” the CJI said.

Attorney-general K.K. Venugopal’s plea for a three months’ extension to implement the court’s directions was declined.

“There is no difficulty in setting up the Cauvery Management Board  the difficulty is whether administrative member or a technical member should head it,” the A-G said, asking the court to clarify whether the scheme has to be strictly in terms of the award by the Cauvery Water Tribunal.

The argument triggered a terse response from the CJI who asked why the Centre had not approached the court earlier if it had any confusion.

“We don’t know why you have not finalised it till date. You better frame it and submit it to us. Why didn’t you come to us earlier if you had any confusion?” asked the CJI.

Senior counsel for Tamil Nadu, Shekhar Naphade and G. Umapathy, said that people in the state were anguished over Karnataka not releasing the water.“We have filed a contempt application for not implementing the directions,” Mr Naphade said.

Senior counsel Shyam Divan and Mohan Katarki for Karnataka denied that Karnataka had deliberately flouted the tribunal’s award.