TN Govt to urge SC to ensure Tribunal award

Chennai, Apr 23 (UNI) The Tamil Nadu Government today announced that it would move the Supreme Court immediately to ensure that the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal's order to constitute an Expert Committee to go into details of crop water requirement was withdrawn and that it finalised its award without any further delay.

An official release here said there was no need for any such expert committee, since enough material was already with the Tribunal and that the arugments had been completed in all respects.

In the interest of the farmers in Tamil Nadu, the Government had decided to strongly oppose the move to constitute a committee, as this would only further delay matters, it said.

The State Government would insist before the Tribunal by a written statement and in the hearing on May five, 2006 that these tentative orders of the two members of the Tribunal were withdrawn.

It would also seek judicial intervention to ensure that no such committee was constituted, as it was quite unnecessary.

The release said the Tribunal had already taken 16 years in examining the submissions of the Tamil Nadu Government which had placed all the facts, documents and arguments, besides filing affidavits by expert witnessess on all aspects, including assessment of water requirement for crops. Other states had also filed their submissions and final arguments had also been concluded.

''Now all that is necessary is for the Tribunal to give its final award. At this stage, constitution of any committee will only delay the pronouncement of the final award which is anxiously awaited by Tamil Nadu,'' it said.

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