New Delhi: In deference to the demand by Tamil Nadu, the Centre on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that it was agreeable for the name “Cauvery Management Board” to implement the February 16 judgment on allocation and distribution of water among Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.
Attorney-general K.K. Venugopal made this submission before a Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud when senior counsel Shekar Naphade for Tamil Nadu suggested that the authority which has not been named in the “draft scheme” be christened as CMB.
At the outset, the CJI refused the plea of senior counsel Shyam Divan to defer the hearing till July as the government formation in Karnataka is yet to take place.
Mr Divan told the court that “this scheme will be effective on us for 15 years and we have a right to say something. Stand this over till the first week of July.”
Opposing the suggestion, Mr Naphade said, “There is always a government. The Constitution does not contemplate a vacuum. If it goes to July then Tamil Nadu will not be getting water in June.”
