The Hindu : Kerala News : Kerala to challenge Cauvery Tribunal award

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 20, 2007
ePaper

Kerala

Kerala

Kerala to challenge Cauvery Tribunal award

Special Correspondent

Meet identifies points of injustice to Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala has decided to file a special leave petition before the Supreme Court challenging the Cauvery Tribunal award.

Briefing the media after a meeting of top officials and experts in the subject of inter-State water sharing here on Thursday, Minister for Water Resources N.K. Premachandran said the State would also file a clarification petition on the award before the tribunal.

Mr. Premachandran said the meeting, held in the presence of Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, identified several aspects of the award reflecting injustice to Kerala. For instance, 5 tmc of water meant for the Banasurasagar Project, which Kerala had completed at a cost of Rs.365 crore before setting up the tribunal, would become out of bounds for the State with the announcement of the award. This was because the tribunal had rejected the idea of inter-basin transfer of water in its award, he said.

The Minister said the award was also not clear about how the excess water in the Cauvery basin was to be shared between Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. There was no mention in the award about the Mukkali Project being implemented by Kerala, the dispute about which was referred to the tribunal by the Supreme Court following the State's request. Further, the tribunal, while giving its award, had not factored in the subject of 30 tmc of water Kerala was giving to the Cauvery basin in Tamil Nadu under various inter-State agreements.

Mr. Premachandran said that in Kerala's view, Tamil Nadu had received a "privileged consideration" from the tribunal in several respects.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala