The Hindu : Karnataka News : All-party meet on Cauvery issue today

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 01, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

All-party meet on Cauvery issue today

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, AUG. 31. The State Government has decided to convene an all-party meeting on Wednesday to finalise its stand in the wake of the Supreme Court direction to the Centre, the State, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry to reply to a petition pointing out the "deep divisions" among the members and the Chairman of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT).

Discussion with officials

The Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh; the Deputy Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah; the Water Resources Minister, M. Mallikarjun Kharge; the Revenue and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, M.P. Prakash; and the Industries Minister, P.G.R. Sindhia, held a meeting here today with officials to discuss the matter. The former Irrigation Minister and Janata Dal (United) leader H.N. Nanje Gowda and irrigation experts participated in the deliberations.

Speaking to presspersons after the discussions, Mr. Prakash said the all-party meeting would discuss the issue in detail. Experts on irrigation had been invited to the meeting.

Mr. Sindhia said the Cauvery issue was a "very ticklish one" and the Government had decided to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court on September 3 after a thorough discussion at tomorrow's meeting.

The Supreme Court had on August 20 asked the tribunal to defer by 10 days the visit by two of its members to the Cauvery Basin States and directed the Centre, the State, Tamil Nadu, and Pondicherry to reply within a week to a petition on differences among the members and Chairman of the tribunal.

The petition was filed by the Bangalore-based Gandhi Sahitya Sangha Trust expressing unhappiness over the functioning of tribunal, which has not been able to complete its work for many years.

Referring to the divisions within the tribunal, the petitioners argued before the Supreme Court that the "tribunal has almost broken down" owing to differences between the two members on one side and the Chairman, former Supreme Court judge N.P. Singh.

It has been reported that the tribunal members, N.S. Rao and Sudhir Narayan Agarwal, wanted to visit the Cauvery Basin States, but the Chairman was against it on the grounds that it would be a burden on the exchequer.

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