The Karnataka government will take a call on the Further Report of the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal 2, given on November 29, 2013, after consulting legal experts in Delhi even as the Opposition parties urged the government to file a special leave petition before the Supreme Court challenging the report.
Speaking to presspersons here on Wednesday, after meeting the Floor Leaders of the legislature here, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the government has an open mind on the issue. He, along with Ministers M.B. Patil, H.K. Patil, T.B. Jayachandra and S.R. Patil, would be meeting senior counsel F.S. Nariman on Thursday in Delhi to seek his opinion on the matter.
While Leaders of the Opposition in the Assembly and Council H.D. Kumaraswamy and D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Bharatiya Janata Party Floor Leader in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar and the former Minister for Water Resources Basavaraj Bommai were in favour of filing an SLP, Mr. Siddaramaiah said he would take a final decision after getting Mr. Nariman’s opinion.
Mr. Siddaramaiah declined to comment on the pros and cons of the Further Report.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kumaraswamy, in a press release, said the government should challenge the Further Report as it is detrimental to the interests of Karnataka. He said the total allocation of 907 tmcft Krishna waters to Karnataka is 35.18 per cent of the total 2,578 tmcft yield, Andhra Pradesh has got 1,005 tmcft, which is 39 per cent of the total yield. Despite Karnataka being in the highest Krishna basin area as admitted by the Tribunal itself, the allocation has been less, he said.
While Tribunal 1 (Bachawat) had allocated 50 per cent of the surplus water to Karnataka, Tribunal 2 has awarded just 38 per cent, that is, 173 tmcft as against 194 tmcft (43.3 per cent) allocated to Andhra Pradesh. Also, the conditions put forth in the Further Report about the use of dependable yield of water, are not only harsh but illogical, Mr. Kumaraswamy said. The condition that upper riparian States — Karnataka and Maharashtra — have to make good the shortfall in realisation of the yield of 811 tmcft by Andhra Pradesh by releasing water too is illogical, he said. The implied meaning of all these conditions, Mr. Kumaraswamy said, is that the interests of Andhra Pradesh should always be protected at any cost.
