Karnataka's plea on CWDT award unlawful: TN MPs tell PM

New Delhi, Mar 21 (UNI) Union Ministers and MPs belonging to the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry today submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, describing as unlawful and ill-conceived the Karnataka government's opposition to notifying the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT).

In the four-page memorandum, 36 MPs, however, fell short of demanding the immediate notification of the award. ''We do hope that the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, would take necessary action in accordance with the law.'' Apparently explaining the reason for not making such a demand, they said Karnataka MPs' reported submission of a memorandum to Dr Singh pleading against notification was ''not in accordance with the oath of office taken by them. They are also expected to abide by the Constitution and the laws of the land.'' On the Karnataka government's plea that the publication of the CWDT award should await the finalisation of the ''Comprehensive National Water Policy,'' the MPs from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry said the Tribunal with senior members of the judiciary ''should not be fettered with any such preconceived notions in the form of guidelines.'' Further, to suggest that a Tribunal Award should not be implemented on this score was another way of negating the very purpose of legal resolution of the disputes and it amounted to showing disrespect for the law made by Parliament, more particularly, the Inter State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, they said.

''Hence, making a plea that the Award should not be notified is totally ill-conceived,'' the MPs said.

The signatories to the memorandum included Union Ministers P Chidambaram, T R Baalu, Dayanidhi Maran, A Raja and Mani Shankar Aiyar.

Explaining in detail the developments leading to the setting up of the Tribunal, the MPs said the Karnataka government had always adopted an obstructionist attitude to arrive at any settlement in the Cauvery water dispute. Even after the CWDT award, the Karnataka government indulged in creating a law and order situation in the state.

In the absence of any valid grounds, the Karnataka government has been resorting to extra-constitutional methods to nullify the pronouncements made by judicial forums and legally constituted machinery on sharing of river waters and trying to create a sense of insecurity in the minds of the Tamils, the DPA MPs said.

UNI