CWDT commits patent jurisdictional error: Legal lumninaries

Bangalore, Mar 15 (UNI) The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT), in its final award, has committed a 'patent jurisdictional error' in not giving credit to at least 32 tmc ft of water while fixing the liability on Karnataka for release at the inter-state border on an annual and monthly basis, legal experts have opined.

Legal luminaries, who had put forth their comments to the Karnataka Government on the Tribunal award pronounced on February five, had stated that 32 tmc ft was equivalent to 20 tmc ft of ground water which the Tribunal had allocated for exploitation by Tamil Nadu.

The Tribunal had consciously failed to exercise jurisdiction under the Inter-state River Water Dispute Act, 1956, in not giving such a credit when fixing the liability of Karnataka at the inter-state border, they said in their comments submitted to the Government for chalking out a future course of action on the award.

Official sources told UNI that the legal experts felt that the Tribunal's estimate of 20 tmc ft of ground water was a gross underestimate, with regard to the UNDP finding that the groundwater available to Tamil Nadu in the detta region was 129 tmc.

''Admittedly, in the direction for release by Karnataka to Tamil Nadu at Biligundlu, no credit has been given whatsover for even this 20 tmc of ground water (equivalent of 32 tmc ft of surface water).'' MORE UNI