New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday assured the Tamil Nadu government that a bench will be constituted today to hear the state's plea for the release of its allotment of Cauvery river water for the month of August.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi and additional advocate general Amit Anand Tiwari, representing Tamil Nadu, submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud that the matter was urgent.
In an application, the state government has said the release of water was urgently needed to meet the demands of the standing crops.
Rohatgi contended before the bench, also comprising justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, that it is an urgent matter for release of water for August in accordance with the Cauvery Water Management Authority order and stressed that a bench needs to be constituted to hear it.
He said the last bench was headed by justice A M Khanwilkar, who has since retired, and urged the CJI to list the matter at the earliest.
The CJI said, “today itself I will constitute a bench….”. Tamil Nadu government moved the apex court seeking a direction to the Karnataka government to immediately release 24000 cusecs of Cauvery water from its reservoirs at Billigundulu for the remaining period of the month.
The Tamil Nadu government has sought a direction to Karnataka government to ensure the release of water for September, 2023 (36.76 TMC) as per the Cauvery Tribunal award, which was modified by the apex court in 2018.
