The Supreme Court today enhanced the allocation of Cauvery river water to Karnataka in its verdict in the decades-old water-sharing dispute between the southern states of India.
A three-judge bench of the apex court granted Karnataka additional 14.75 thousand million cubic feet of the water from the Cauvery river, thereby reducing the share of Tamil Nadu to 177.25 TMC from 192 TMC earlier. The court did not make any change in water allocation to Kerala and Puducherry.
The bench headed by Chief Justice of India Justice Dipak Misra and including Justice Amitava Roy and Justice AM Khanwilkar, said the additional water allocation to Karnataka is being done to accommodate the scarcity of drinking water in the state capital Bengaluru. Karnataka had demanded that the water allocation from the river to Tamil Nadu be made half, while Tamil Nadu had sought that the water allocated to them be raised to 325 TMC.
The bench was hearing an appeal against the 2007 decision of the Water Tribunal that had allocated 192 TMC of water to Tamil Nadu, 30 TMC to Kerala, and 6 TMC to Puducherry.
The apex court said that the verdict will remain in force for 15 years. The Supreme Court has also decided to set up a Cauvery Water Board to look into the allocation and timely release of the water to all parties concerned.
With inputs from PTI and ANI.
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