Cauvery Tribunal to pronounce final orders in Feb

New Delhi, Jan 16: The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) has issued notices informing the parties that it would pronounce its 'final order' on February 5, 2007.

The three-member CWDT notice, sent to the parties by the Tribunal Registrar, said it would pronounce its final order in respect of the report for decision under section 5(2) of Inter State Water Disputes Act 1956.

The CWDT, formed in June 1990 with Justice Chittatosh Mukherjee as the Chairman, has held 578 sittings since its inception. On June 25, 1991, the Tribunal passed an Interim Order directing Karnataka to ensure 205 TMC of water at Mettur and prescribed a ceiling of 11.20 lakh acres.

The parties in the dispute are Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, limiting its irrigation. Junhe Cauvery Basin is an Inter-State Basin covering areas in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Use and development of Cauvery Waters were regulated by agreements of 1892 and 1924 between the erstwhile Princely State of Mysore and province of Madras. The State of Kerala was not a party to this agreement.

The 1924 Agreement expired at the end of 50 years and became open for review in the light of experience gained and further possibility of extension of irrigation, etc.

With the re-organisation of States in 1956, the former princely State of Coorg, which was partly in the Cauvery basin, became part of Karnataka and some areas of Malabar in Madras State in the Cauvery basin became part of Kerala.

The then French territory of Puducherry, which is also served by Cauvery, became a Union Territory. Thus, presently, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are interested States for sharing the Cauvery Waters.

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

A formal request was made by Tamil Nadu in July, 1986 under the provisions of Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956 for constitution of a Tribunal. Hence, the Centre set up the Tribunal on June 2, 1990, with its headquarters at New Delhi.

Presently, the Tribunal is headed by Justice N P Singh and Justice N S Rao and Sudhir Narain are the members of the Tribunal.

UNI