Bengaluru: The Supreme Court has rejected Tamil Nadu's plea for stay on the Mekedatu water project of Karnataka. Tamil Nadu had claimed that the Mekedatu dam would be a direct interference in the ongoing River Cauvery case.
Refuting Tamil Nadu's argument, the Karnataka government had told that the Central Water Commission (CWC) had given permission to the state to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) on the Mekedatu project.
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Based on this argument, the Supreme Court ruled that there was no reason to stop Karnataka from preparing the DPR. It asked the Centre and Karnataka government to file a reply against Tamil Nadu's concerns and submit it within four weeks.
It is just a temporary relief to Karnataka in the Mekedatu project as the apex court opined that the state was just preparing the DPR and has not been given permission to start work on the same.
Meanwhile, the apex court also gave assurance to Tamil Nadu that no decision will be taken without consulting them as water is shared between the two states.
Karnataka has been arguing that the Mekedatu project will not affect state's release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. But Tamil Nadu put up a counter argument that the Mekedatu project will affect the natural flow of River Cauvery and will affect the judgement of allocation of water to the state (Tamil Nadu).
Both the states have been fighting with regard to River Cauvery water sharing for at least five decades.
The Mekedatu project is building of the reservoir across River Cauvery near Mekedatu in Kanakapura taluk. Tamil Nadu had objected to the project and had said that the state did not have prior permission to build the reservoir. Tamil Nadu also said that the reservoir would affect the flow of Rive Cauvery into the state.
Karnataka has been maintaining that it will use only the excess water after supplying allocated 192 tmfc water to Tamil Nadu through the Mekedatu project.