According to Karnataka’s Water Resources Minister, the state is likely to file the plea before Supreme Court on Thursday

Karnataka has decided to approach the Supreme Court against the Cauvery Water Management Authority’s decision on Tuesday to uphold the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee’s (CWRC) direction to the State to release water to Tamil Nadu at a rate of 12,000 cusecs a day for 15 days.

Speaking in New Delhi on Wednesday, Karnataka’s new Water Resources Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy said, “Karnataka is fully prepared to approach the Supreme Court and I think we may approach the apex court tomorrow (Thursday).”

Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy, who was given the Water Resources portfolio only on Wednesday, said Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Ramalinga Reddy who held the portfolio earlier were in constant touch with the legal and technical team. They had decided to approach the Supreme Court in consultation with these teams, he noted.

Though the earlier order of the CWRC and CWMA asking Karnataka to release water at a rate of 3,500 cusecs a day for 15 days was a difficult one, Karnataka managed to abide by it. “But the present order to ensure flows at a rate of 12,000 cusecs is too difficult to implement as Karnataka would end up releasing roughly 15 tmcft of water,” Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy maintained.

“We need to give priority for drinking water requirements in such a distress situation. The water storage data shows that Tamil Nadu has more storage than Karnataka when drinking water requirements are concerned,” the Minister said.

He said Karnataka needed to conserve drinking water till the beginning of next water year in June 2027 as the weather forecast had indicated that Karnataka was unlikely to get good rains in the remaining part of the monsoon in August and September.