Kaveri River water dispute

In 1881, the princely state of Mysore decided to revive the irrigation projects that were previously drafted up by the British for both states, but was met with resistance from the Madras Presidency. A conference was held in 1890 between the two states that eventually resulted in the Agreement of 1892 which aimed to meet the needs of both states.^[11]

In 1910, king Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar and Chief Engineer Dawes of Mysore drafted a plan to construct a dam in two stages at Kannambadi village that would hold up to 41.5 TMC of water. However, Madras opposed the plan as it had its own plans of building a dam at Mettur which could hold up to 80 TMC of water.^[11]

The Government of India gave permission to Mysore to build a dam that could store 11 TMC, but the dam's foundation was constructed and designed to hold the full capacity of water, 41.5 TMC. This lead to further dispute amongst the two states and the British Government of India sent the matter to arbitration under Rule IV of the 1892 Agreement. The award was declared in 12 May 1914, which allowed Mysore to construct the dam up to 11 TMC.^[11] The decision was appealed by the Madras Presidency which eventually led to the Agreement of 1924 between the two states which allowed Mysore to build the Krishna Raja Sagara dam and Madras to build the Mettur dam.^[12] The 1924 agreement was written to last 50 years and gave Tamil Nadu 75% of the surplus water, Karnataka 23%, and the remaining to Kerala.^[13]

In 1947, India attained independence from the British. Further in 1956, the reorganization of the states of India took place and state boundaries were redrawn based on linguistic demographics which lead to the creation of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.^[12] Kodagu or Coorg (the birthplace of the Cauvery), became a part of Mysore state.^[14] Parts of Malabar which earlier formed part of Madras Presidency went to Kerala,^[15] and parts of Puducherry also fell in the Kaveri basin. As a result, both Kerala and Puducherry became invested in the Kaveri River.^[12]

The reorganization caused some of the river's upper tributaries to be in Kerala. New disputes also arose as Mysore took on new projects on the river in line with the 1924 Agreement, which Tamil Nadu opposed.^[16] As the 1924 Agreement came to an end, differences arose between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu regarding its interpretations. Karnataka believed that the agreement had to expire because the 1924 Agreement did not address water issues occurring in 1974 between the two states. Tamil Nadu believed that the agreement was meant to be reviewed after 50 years as was understood during negotiations. It also believed that the agreement could not expire because it served as a foundation for developmental projects for both states and if it was altered it would harm both states.^[16]

Tamil Nadu wanted a tribunal established under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act of 1956 to address the conflict, but it was turned town by the Union government. A report on the Union-State relations was created by Tamil Nadu's government which recommended that the Supreme Court should handle the interstate water disputes and ensure that its decisions are implemented.^[16]

In 1971, petitions were submitted to the Supreme Court requesting that the Union of India should send the dispute to a tribunal under the Interstate River Water Disputes Act of 1956. However, the petitions were withdrawn in 1975 due to the suspension of fundamental rights during a national emergency from 1975 to 1977. Later after the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, intervened Tamil Nadu started to engage in talks with the other states and dropped its demand for a tribunal. In 1975, Jagjivan Ram, the Union Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation led further discussions between the states and created a report from the Cauvery Fact Finding Committee.^[16]

In 1976 Tamil Nadu came under the President's rule which caused deferral of the agreement. The new government of M.G. Ramachandran rejected the draft agreement stating that the 1924 agreement allowed for an extension but not a review and that the 1892 and 1924 agreements should be reinstated.^[17] Additionally, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala had agreed in 1976 to form a committee which would be headed by a Central Water Commission member, but this committee was never established due to political reasons.^[16]

Despite having 26 ministerial meetings between 1968 and 1990 to resolve the Kaveri water dispute, an agreement could not be reached. During this time, a crisis management system was also established for 15 years, with Tamil Nadu requesting more water annually to support its crops in the delta.^[16] In 1983, the Society for the Protection of the Irrigation and Agricultural Rights of the Tamil Nadu Farmers of the Cauvery filed a petition requesting the government to establish a Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT)^[16] and intervene because it was an interstate water issue.^[12] During the initial hearing of the petition, the Supreme Court encouraged that states to negotiate their own water sharing deal, but they were unable to find a solution.^[16]

In 1990, the Supreme Court instructed the Union government to set up the CWDT. The tribunal was later formed and heard arguments from all four states.^[16] The three-man tribunal was constituted on 2 June 1990 and the tribunal was headed by Justice Chittatosh Mookerjee.^[12]

The four states presented their demands to the tribunal. Karnataka requested 465 TMC, Kerala requested 99.8 TMC, Puducherry requested 9.3 TMC, and Tamil Nadu requested 566 TMC of its share based on the terms of the agreements of 1892 and 1924.^[12]

The tribunal gave an interim award on 25 June 1991 that was based on its 10 year calculation of average inflow of water into Tamil Nadu.^[17] It instructed Karnataka to release water from its reservoirs and provide 205 TMC to the Mettur reservoir in Tamil Nadu in a water year and also specified weekly and monthly stipulations.^[18]

Karnataka deemed this extremely inimical to its interests and issued an ordinance seeking to annul the tribunal’s award. The Supreme Court now stepped in at the President’s instance and struck down the Ordinance issued by Karnataka. It upheld the tribunal’s award which was subsequently gazetted by the Government of India on 11 December 1991.

Karnataka was thus forced to accept the interim award and widespread demonstrations and violence broke out in parts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu following this. Thousands of Tamil families had to flee from Bangalore in fear of being attacked and lynched by pro-Kannada activists with the behest of the state government.^[19] The violence and show down, mostly centered in the Tamil populated parts of Bengaluru, lasted for nearly a month and most schools and educational institutions in Bengaluru remained closed during this period.

On 20 February 2013, the Indian Government announced the final award.^[20] The final award makes an annual allocation of 419 TMC to Tamil Nadu in the entire Cauvery basin, 270 TMC to Karnataka, 30 TMC to Kerala and 7 TMC to Puducherry.^[21][22][23] Utilisable water in Tamil Nadu is sum of beneficial water uses and the water going waste to sea in excess of 14 TMC at Lower Coleroon and Grand Anaicuts.

The water-sharing criteria are based on two situations:

• When water availability is above the normal water year flows.
• When water availability is equal to or below the normal water year flows

The 50% dependable water year is considered as normal water year whose total water availability in the basin is 740 TMC.^[24] All the unused water in the reservoirs (≥ 3 TMC storage) at the beginning of water year in the basin are also considered for arriving the total available water in a water year to be shared by the riparian states. Tamil Nadu has to use 10 TMC for minimum environmental flows downstream of Lower Coleroon Anicut and supply 7 TMC to Puducherry out of the 192 TMC water released by Karnataka in a normal water year. Kerala can use 21 TMC from Kabini river basin, 6 TMC from Bhavani river basin and 3 TMC from Pambar river basin in a normal year. Water going waste to sea at Lower Coleroon Anicut in excess of 4 TMC (other than 10 TMC minimum environmental flows) in any water year forms part of the utilizable water share of Tamil Nadu. The ambiguity in the verdict is that utilizable water (clauses IV and V) in the basin is allocated among the states but it has not defined how to measure the same. Instead, clause XIV of the final order defines how to measure the beneficial water uses which are not equal to the utilizable water.

According to verdict, monthly release of water from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu in TMCs would be: – 10 June, July – 34, August – 50, September – 40, – 22 October, – 15 November, – 8 December, – 3 January, February – 2.5, March – 2.5, April – 2.5, May – 2.5.^[25]

Karnataka can now use all the excess water available in its area after releasing 192 TMC applicable in a normal water year. Tamil Nadu can also use all the excess water available in its area (including flood water from Karnataka if any).

Karnataka has proposed a project to store excess water during good monsoon years at Mekedatu for drinking water needs of Bengaluru city and en route, hydro power generation, etc. Tamil Nadu is raising objections to this project.^[26][27]

When the total water availability is below 740 TMC (i.e. distress year), the allocated share of each state is reduced proportionately. Kerala (in Kabini basin) and Karnataka would use their reduced allocations and release rest of water below Billigundulu gauging station for use in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.^[28] Karnataka has to release water to Tamil Nadu on monthly basis proportionate to the monthly figures indicated for a normal year.

Based on the river basin water data available from the year 1934 to 1971, the tribunal estimated the average water yield in the total river basin as 767 TMC which corresponds to 47% dependability. The live storage capacity available in the river basin is nearly 310 TMC which is 40.5% of the average yield. The water used in the Cauvery delta in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry is nearly 280 TMC which is the tail end water use in the river basin and its regenerated water either goes to sea or outside the Cauvery basin.^[29] The total dissolved salt load generated in the basin is nearly 3.5 million metric tons per year. The estimated salinity or total dissolved salts (TDS) for the water available in Cauvery delta is 441 ppm which is close to the safe maximum permissible 500 ppm.^[30][31][32] There is no limit imposed by the tribunal for the ground water use in the river basin. The tribunal has also permitted the basin states to use all the excess water available in above normal water years. Moreover, the river basin population has reached 40 million in the year 2015 and the increasing per capita inorganic salts used/consumed in industrial, agriculture and residential sectors are enhancing the salt export requirements.^[4][33] When adequate salt export from the river basin is not taking place to the sea by forcing Cauvery delta to face water shortage, the water quality (salinity, pH, alkalinity, sodicity, etc.) available for Cauvery delta would deteriorate beyond the permissible limits impeding its sustainable productivity and its aquatic ecosystem conservation.^[34][35][36] Ultimately salt export criterion is the limitation for the water resources development in a river basin.

In response to the Special Leave Petition (SLP) lodged by Tamil Nadu earlier, the Supreme Court on 10 May 2013 issued an interim direction to the Government of India (GoI) to establish an Interim Supervisory Committee to implement the Cauvery tribunal order till the constitution of "Cauvery Management Board" as stated in the tribunal order. GoI issued the gazette notification on 22 May 2013 establishing the said Supervisory Committee.^[37] Interim Supervisory Committee is a stop gap arrangement when there is delay in getting its approval by the parliament per section 6A(7) of Interstate River Water Disputes Act. However, Interim Supervisory Committee established by GoI under Interstate River Water Disputes Act has full powers {including suing and to be sued by riparian states/victims for damages / compensation per section 6A(3)} similar to an authority/ board established by parliament till parliament has not annulled the same.^[38][39]

In 1995, the monsoons failed badly in Karnataka and the state found itself hard pressed to fulfill the interim order. Tamil Nadu approached the Supreme Court demanding the immediate release of at least 30 TMC. The Supreme Court refused to entertain Tamil Nadu's petition and asked it to approach the tribunal. The tribunal examined the case and recommended that Karnataka release 11 TMC. Karnataka pleaded that 11 TMC was unimplementable in the circumstances that existed then. Tamil Nadu now went back to the Supreme Court demanding that Karnataka be forced to obey the tribunal's order. The Supreme Court this time recommended that the then Prime Minister, P. V. Narasimha Rao, intervene and find a political solution. The Prime Minister convened a meeting with the Chief Ministers of the two states and recommended that Karnataka release 6 TMC instead of the 11 TMC that the tribunal ordered. Karnataka complied with the decision of the Prime Minister and the issue blew over.

Karnataka had all through maintained that the interim award was not 'scientific' and was inherently flawed. It had, nevertheless, complied with the order except during 1995–96 when rains failed. What complicated matters was that the Interim award was ambiguous on distress sharing and there was no clear cut formula that everyone agreed upon to share the waters in the case of failure of the monsoon.

In 1997, the Government proposed the setting up of a Cauvery River Authority which would be vested with far reaching powers to ensure the implementation of the Interim Order. These powers included the power to take over the control of dams in the event of the Interim Order not being honoured. Karnataka, which had always maintained that the interim order had no scientific basis and was intrinsically flawed, strongly protested the proposal to set up such an authority.

The Government then made several modifications to the powers of the Authority and came up with a new proposal. The new proposal greatly reduced the executive powers of the Authority. The power to take over control of dams was also done away with. Under this new proposal, the Government set up two new bodies, viz., Cauvery River Authority and Cauvery Monitoring Committee. The Cauvery River Authority would consist of the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers of all four states (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala) and was headquartered in New Delhi. The Cauvery Monitoring Committee on the other hand, was an expert body which consisted of engineers, technocrats and other officers who would take stock of the 'ground realities' and report to the government.

In the summer of 2002, things once again came to a head as the monsoon failed in both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Reservoirs in both states fell to record low levels and inevitably tempers rose. The sticking point yet again, as in 1995–96 was how the distress would be shared between the two states. The tribunal had overlooked this crucial point^[40] when it gave the interim award and it had returned once again to haunt the situation. Tamil Nadu demanded that Karnataka honour the interim award and release to Tamil Nadu its proportionate share. Karnataka on the other hand stated that the water levels were hardly enough to meet its own demands and ruled out releasing any water in the circumstances that prevailed.^[41]

A meeting of the Cauvery River Authority was called on 27 August 2002 but the Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha walked out of the meeting. The focus now shifted to the Supreme Court which ordered Karnataka to release 1.25 TMC of water every day unless the Cauvery River Authority revised it. Karnataka was forced to release water but pressed for another meeting of the Cauvery River Authority which was fixed for 8 September. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister this time boycotted the meet citing insufficient notice as the reason. A minister from her cabinet, however represented Tamil Nadu. The Cauvery River Authority revised the Court's order from 1.25 TMC to 0.8 TMC per day.

This time however, the Karnataka government in open defiance of the order of the Cauvery River Authority, refused to release any water succumbing to the large scale protests that had mounted in the Cauvery districts of the state. Tamil Nadu aghast at the defiance, went back to the Supreme Court. Karnataka now resumed the release of water for a few days, but stopped it again on 18 September as a Karnataka farmers and their protests threatened to take a dangerous turn. The centre now stepped in and asked Karnataka to release the water. The Supreme Court meanwhile, in response to Tamil Nadu's petition asked the Cauvery River Authority for details of the water release and water levels in the reservoirs.

This period did not see any major flare up in the dispute even though the summer of 2003 saw a dry spell in both states. The monsoons in 2004, 2005 and 2006 was quite copious and this helped a great deal in keeping the tempers calm. While the last 3 or 4 years have been relatively quiet as far as jingoistic voices are concerned, a flurry of development has been afoot in the courts.

The term of the tribunal was initially set to expire in August 2005. However, in the light of the many arguments the court was yet to hear, the tribunal filed a request for extension of its term. The extension was granted and the tribunal's term was extended for another year until September 2006. Early in 2006, a major controversy erupted over the 'Assessor's report' that was apparently 'leaked' to the press. The report had suggested a decision which Karnataka summarily rejected. Another major controversy erupted when just a couple of months before the September 2006 deadline, the tribunal recommended the formation of another expert committee to study the 'ground realities' yet again. This was unanimously and vehemently opposed by all the four states party to the dispute. The states contended that this move would further delay a judgement which has already been 16 years in the making.

More than the disapproval of all the four states of the new expert committee that was proposed, the proposal turned out to be a major embarrassment for the tribunal. This was because, not only were the four states opposed to it even the Chief Judge of the tribunal was opposed to it. However the other two assistant judges on 3-man adjudication team, overruled the opinion of the main Judge. And all this was done in a packed courtroom and this led to petty bickering and heated arguments between the three judges in the packed courtroom. This left everyone in the courtroom shocked and the Tamil Nadu counsel was moved to remark that it was embarrassing that the judges probably needed help settling their own disputes before adjudicating on the dispute at hand. Nonetheless, the new expert committee was formed and carried out further assessments. The extended deadline of the tribunal also passed and the tribunal was given yet another extension.

The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal announced its final verdict on 5 February 2007.^[20] According to its verdict, Tamil Nadu gets 419 TMC of Cauvery water while Karnataka gets 270 TMC. The actual release of water by Karnataka to Tamil Nadu is to be 192 TMC annually. Further, Kerala will get 30 TMC and Puducherry 7 TMC.^[42] Water to be released to Tamil Nadu according to monthly schedule as: June month (10 TMC), July (34), August (50), September (40), October (22), November (15), December (8), January (3), February (2.5), March (2.5), April (2.5) and May (2.5).^[43] The Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, unhappy with the decision, filed a revision petition before the tribunal seeking a review.^{[citation needed]}

On 19 September 2012, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the chairman of Cauvery River Authority, ordered Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs of water per day from the Kaveri to Tamil Nadu.^[44] But Karnataka felt that this was impractical due to the drought conditions prevailing because of the failed monsoon. Karnataka then walked out of the high-level meeting as a sign of protest. On 21 September, Karnataka filed a petition before the Cauvery River Authority seeking review of its 19 September ruling.

On 28 September 2012, the Supreme Court criticized the Karnataka government for failing to comply with the directive of the Cauvery River Authority.^[45] Left with no other option, Karnataka started releasing water. This led to wide protests and violence in Karnataka.^[46]

On 4 October 2012, the Karnataka government filed a review petition before the Supreme Court seeking a stay on its 28 September order directing it to release 9,000 cusecs of Cauvery water everyday to Tamil Nadu, until 15 October.^[47]

On 6 October 2012, several Kannada organisations, under the banner of "Kannada Okkoota", called a Karnataka bandh (close down) on 6 October in protest against the Cauvery water release.^[48] On 8 October, the Supreme Court of India announced the release of 9,000 cusecs had to be continued and it was up to the Cauvery River Authority's head, the Prime Minister, as a responsible person, to ensure this happened. The Prime Minister ruled out a review of the Cauvery River Authority’s decision until 20 October, rejecting the plea by both the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders from Karnataka. Within a few hours, Karnataka stopped release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.^[49]

Tamil Nadu made a fresh plea in the Supreme Court on 17 October, reiterating its demand for appropriate directions to be issued to Karnataka to make good the shortfall of 48 TMC of water as per the distress sharing formula.^[50]

On 15 November 2012, The Cauvery Monitoring Committee directed the Karnataka government to release 4.81 TMC to Tamil Nadu between 16 and 30 November.^[51]

On 6 December, the supreme court directed Karnataka to release 10,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu. The court asked the union government to indicate the time frame within which the final decision of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal, which was given in February 2007, was to be notified. This decision was given in the view of saving the standing crops of both the states.^{[clarification needed][52]}

On 22 August 2016, Tamil Nadu approached Supreme Court, seeking direction to Karnataka to release 50.052 TMC ft Cauvery water from its reservoirs for its third samba cultivation, as mandated in the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal 2007. Karnataka cited distress situation as Karnataka felt there was only enough water for drinking purposes ^[53] and declined to release water.

On 2 September 2016, Supreme Court asked Karnataka to consider Tamil Nadu's plea on humanitarian grounds and release water and advised both states to maintain harmony. The Court also asked Karnataka to revert by 5 September 2016 as to how much water it can release. On 5 September 2016 Karnataka informed the Supreme Court that it can release 10,000 cusecs per day, while Tamil Nadu demanded 20,000 cusecs per day. Supreme Court ordered Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs per day to Tamil Nadu for next 10 days till 16 September 2016.

On 9 September 2016, the state of Karnataka observed a bandh and protested against the release of water to Tamil Nadu. Supreme Court was approached by Karnataka citing public unrest, seeking modification of the earlier order. On 12 September 2016, Supreme Court slammed Karnataka for citing law and order problem and modified the 5 September order, directing Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs of water till 20 September 2016. This decision by the Supreme Court lead to an unrest among the people of Karnataka as the water release limit was increased by extending the number of days and violence broke out in Bangalore, Mysore, Mandya and other parts of state.^[54] Two people were killed^[55][56][57] in the unrest and section 144 was imposed in Bengaluru. Curfew was also imposed on few parts of Bengaluru.

On 19 September 2016, the Cauvery Supervisory Committee, set up by Supreme Court, ordered Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs per day from 21 September 2016 to 30 September 2016. On 20 September 2016, Supreme Court directed Karnataka to further release 6,000 cusecs of water from 21 September 2016 to 27 September 2016 and directed the Central Government to set up the Cauvery Management Board in order to provide a permanent solution for the dispute.^[58][59] However, in a special session of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly held on 23 September, a resolution was passed not to release water to Tamil Nadu, hence defying the Supreme Court's order.^[60] On 27 September, the Supreme Court ordered Karnataka to give 6000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for 3 days ^[61] which was again not carried out.^[62]

On 30 September, the Supreme Court gave Karnataka a "last chance" and ordered 6,000 cusecs of water to be released during the first 6 days of October. The Court asked the Central Government to set up the Cauvery Water Management Board by 4 October and immediately do on-site assessments and report back on 6 October.^[63] On 1 October 2016, Karnataka filed for review petition over Supreme Court's latest order to release 6,000 cusecs of Cauvery water from 1 to 6 October and also held a special session of the state legislature.^[64][65][66] After another special legislature session on 3 October, the Karnataka government decided to release water for agricultural purposes, but it was not specified whether water would be released to farmers of Karnataka or Tamil Nadu.^[67] The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 4 October directed Karnataka to release 2,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to Tamil Nadu from 7 to 18 October. The apex court had ordered the state to release 6,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day. The hearing of the case is adjourned to 18 October.^[68]

As instructed by the Supreme Court, the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) was created by the Centre on 1 June 2018.^[69] The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee was created three weeks later.^[70] S. Masood Hussain was named as head of the CWMA and Navin Kumar was appointed chairman of the CWRC.^[71]

Supreme Court (SC) on 9 January 2018 declared that it would pronounce its verdict clearing all the pending cases and the confusion within a month.^[72] On 16 February 2018, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has pronounced its verdict. Reduced 14.75 tmc water allocation to Tamil Nadu and now Karnataka to release only 177 tmc of water to Tamil Nadu for next 15 years. The verdict also mandated to formally constitute the Kavery river management board by the union government within 40 days for implementing strictly the tribunal award and its verdict.^[9]

The final allocation for a total of 740 TMC is:^[73]

• Tamil Nadu : 404.25 (419 – 14.75) TMC
• Karnataka : 284.75 (270 + 14.75) TMC
• Kerala : 30 TMC
• UT of Pondicherry : 7 TMC
• Environmental Protection : 10 TMC
• Inevitable wastage into sea : 4 TMC

Source:^[74]

The Ministry of Water Resources and River Development on Friday directed that the Cauvery Water Management Authority be published in the government gazette. With this, the authority, which will play a major role in sharing of the river's waters amongst three states and a Union Territory is finally official. Headquartered in Delhi, the Cauvery Management Authority will be the sole body to implement the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal award as modified by the SC. The Centre, as per reports, would have no say except for issuing administrative advisories to it.

The Authority will be assisted in the discharge of its functions by a Regulatory Committee. A bench consisting of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud has further directed the government to notify them before the monsoon season sets in June.

It took nearly three months after the Supreme Court order for the Centre to file the draft scheme in court. The NDA government had come under immense criticism for delaying the finalisation of the scheme because of the Karnataka election. The Government's counsel had even said in court that the cabinet was yet to approve of the scheme as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers were campaigning in Karnataka where election took place on 12 May.