Guest column: Karnataka government is sleeping on the job on Cauvery issue

The latest Supreme Court’s order was not altogether unexpected. Many of us believe that the Karnataka government’s legal strategy is not sound at all. In 2007 the Cauvery River Water Dispute Tribunal directed the state to annually release 192 tmc of water to Tamil Nadu. Was this order favourable to Karnataka? It doesn’t know for sure. A section of its lawyers feel it is not all that bad and have even publicly said so. However, it immediately filed an appeal in the Supreme Court and over the past nine years has made no effort to request it for a hearing. No other state government would have been this callous about a water dispute.

Tamil Nadu kept repeatedly complaining to the Supreme Court about Karnataka not releasing enough water in distress years , but the state's explanation for not abiding by the tribunal’s order hasn’t been well articulated.

As the tribunal’s order was never disturbed by the Supreme Court and was even notified by the Union government, it is bound to give effect to it. Its order to increase the water outflow from 3000 cusecs to 6000 cusecs is simply meant to give effect to the tribunal’s diktat that continues to be operative till date thanks to Karnataka’s failure to halt it.

If the state refuses to abide by the Supreme Court’s direction, it will cause lasting damage to its fight for its water resources. While some people might cheer it for its disobedience of the Supreme Court order, they don't realise the lasting damage this can do to the state’s interest.

Karnataka’s legal team has repeatedly failed to deliver and although some of its lawyers have very little expertise in inter-state river water disputes or the Constitution , they pocket exorbitant fees simply because of their political connections. All such lawyers must be immediately removed and replaced by lawyers, who truly care about the fate of the state.