Tribunal gives Tamil Nadu larger share of Cauvery water

New Delhi -- Seeking to cap an over a century old water-sharing dispute among three southern states and a union territory, a tribunal here Monday allocated the largest share of the Cauvery river waters to Tamil Nadu at 419 thousand million cubic (TMC) feet and gave neighbouring Karnataka 270 TMC.

The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal also gave Kerala 30 TMC ft and Pondicherry 7 TMC ft.

The remaining water of one of India's longest rivers - called the Ganges of the south - would be used for environmental development, the tribunal ruled while asking Karnataka to release 219 TMC ft water annually.

The verdict will supersede the tribunal interim order of June 2, 1990 as well as the colonial agreements of 1892 and 1924 entered into between the Presidency of Madras and the Maharaja of Mysore on water sharing between what is now the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, besides the union territory of Pondicherry.

The verdict was delivered by a three-member judicial panel, headed by Justice N.P. Singh, with Justice N.S. Rao and Justice Sudhir Narain as members.

The verdict was the result of the tribunal's protracted proceedings for 17 years, which saw the tribunal holding a total of 577 sittings to reach a solution on water row between the three states. The tribunal announced the much-awaited verdict a day before the expiry of its term Feb 6.

Set up on June 2, 1990, the tribunal in its interim order on June 25, 1991 had asked Karnataka to release 205 tmc ft of water annually to Tamil Nadu on a weekly basis. It had also limited Karnataka's extent of cultivable area in the Cauvery basin to 11.2 lakh acres.

Tamil Nadu had been in favour of the enforcement of the colonial agreements of 1892 and 1924, seeking supply of 380 tmc of water at the Mettur reservoir annually, making the total utilisation of 566 tmc.

But Karnataka had been disputing the validity of these agreements and sought an allocation of 465 tmc of water for utilisation under various projects in the basin.

The 1924 agreement expired at the end of 50 years and became due for a review in 1974 in the light of changed circumstances, including the irrigation area in the three major states.

For more than two decades, prior to the formation of the tribunal, there have been negotiations bilaterally between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, with mediation from the Centre, but no solution had emerged.

A formal request was made by Tamil Nadu in July, 1986 under the provisions of Inter-State Water Disputes Act 1956 for the constitution of a tribunal.