Supreme Court agrees to T.N. Government plea to hear Cauvery water dispute early
The Tamil Nadu Government, headed by Chief Minister Joseph Vijay on Monday (August 10, 2026) sought an early hearing of its application over the Cauvery
The Tamil Nadu Government, headed by Chief Minister Joseph Vijay on Monday (August 10, 2026) sought an early hearing of its application over the Cauvery water allocation dispute with neighbouring Karnataka. Appearing before Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, senior advocate C.S. Vaidyanathan, for Tamil Nadu, highlighted the deficit in allocation of the river water has left farmers in a perilous situation. Editorial | Distress and dispute: On Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and the Cauvery The Chief Justice listed the State’s application for hearing on Thursday (August 13, 2026). The State Government sought a judicial direction to Karnataka to implement a Central Water Management Authority (CWMA) decision of July 30 to ensure the release of 3500 cusecs for 15 days from its two reservoirs at Kabini and Krishna Raja Sagara. Tamil Nadu has approached the Supreme Court for the release of 4.536 TMC (at the rate of 3500 cusecs for 15 days) on or before August 12.
The Tamil Nadu application, finalised by Mr. Vaidyanathan and senior advocate G. Umapathy and drafted by advocate Tushar Nair, was filed by advocate-on-record B. Karunakaran. The State had urged the court to direct the CWMA to issue an appropriate direction to Karnataka to make good, on a pro-rata basis, the shortfall at the inter-State point of Billigundulu for the period from June 1 to August 12, and in this regard release 26.954 TMC of water forthwith. It further sought an order to the CWMA to monitor the flows in the reservoirs of Karnataka every 10 days and ensure stipulated monthly/daily releases at Billigundulu. The Tamil Nadu government said Karnataka had continued to defy the orders of the Cauvery Tribunal for allocation of water to its neighbour except a few times when there were inevitable surpluses in the reservoirs on account of floods. The State said they had reviewed the hydrometeorological condition in the Cauvery basin on July 30 and endorsed the July 28 recommendations of the Cauvery Water Regulations Committee (CWRC) to release waters from Krishna Raja Sagara (KRS) and Kabini reservoir at the rate of 3,500 cusecs from July 29 for 15 days.
“Even if Karnataka ensured flows of 3500 cusecs for 15 days, it would get only 4.536 TMC leaving a backlog of 5.379 TMC even as per the pro rata assessment of distress as on July 28... 28.07.2026. If the inflows into the 4 major reservoirs of Karnataka against 30 years average up to August 3, 2026 is considered, the pro-rata ratio works out to 46.34%. Based on this pro-rata ratio, the flows due from June 1, 2026 to August 12, 2026 works out to 26.95 TMC. The direction given by the CWRC and CWMA is only 4.536 TMC, which is far less than the quantum of water as per distress proportion,” the Tamil Nadu application has said. The State argued that despite the CWRC/CWMA interventions, total flows realised at Billigundulu from July 29 to August 2 were only in the range of 158 cusecs to 530 cusecs.
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