Cauvery Water Dispute: SC Judgment 2018 goes in favor of Karnataka

Cauvery Water Dispute: Supreme Court Judgment 2018- Details, Highlights

The Supreme Court on 16th February 2018 passed a verdict on the Cauvery river water dispute, Tamil Nadu’s share of Cauvery river water was reduced by 14.75 tmc ft water per year, benefiting Karnataka with the same.

The Supreme Court’s led by a special three-judge bench comprises Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, Justices Amitava Roy and A M Khanwilkar passed the judgment stating that ‘one state cannot claim their ownership over any national river.

The Supreme Court directed Karnataka government to release 177.25 tmc ft of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu instead of 192 tmc ft of Cauvery water, from its inter-state Billigundlu dam to Mettur dam in Tamil Nadu.

As per the SC judgment, Karnataka Government with this additional 14.75 tmc ft of Cauvery water will solve its drinking water problems in their state, while its capital Bengaluru city will alone get 4.7 TMC of Cauvery water.

Earlier, Karnataka according to Cauvery Water Tribunal order in 2007, had a share of 270 tmc ft of Cauvery water. Now it will go up to 284.75 tmc ft.

The Supreme Court, however, allowed Tami Nadu to draw an additional 10 tmc ft of groundwater from a total of 20 tmc ft beneath the Cauvery basin.

The CJI, Dipak Misra also informed that the 2007 tribunal allocation of 30 tmc ft to Kerala and 7 tmc ft to Puducherry will remain unchanged.

The Supreme Court order on the Cauvery water allocation-2018 will continue to be validated for the next 15 years.