The Supreme Court reserved its order on Tamil Nadu's plea for immediate Cauvery releases from Karnataka. The hearing underscored the clash between drought management in Karnataka and crop distress in Tamil Nadu.
Newdelhi,Oct 12, 2026 17:18 IST
The Karnataka government told the Supreme Court on Monday that it would be difficult to meet Tamil Nadu’s demand for the release of 11 thousand million cubic feet of Cauvery water to make good the ‘shortfall’, saying this was a rain-deficit year and several areas had been declared drought-affected.
Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, told the court it was only seeking its legitimate pro-rata share of the flows realised during the distress period along with the backlog due to it, and that the entire burden of meteorological and hydrological distress could not be placed on the lower riparian state while Karnataka continued to use available storage and inflows for irrigation and other needs.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Aapresh Kumar Singh reserved its order on Tamil Nadu’s fresh application, which sought directions to Karnataka to immediately clear the backlog of 11 TMC of Cauvery water as on October 7 and ensure release at the rate of 1.3 TMC per day over 10 days at Billigundulu, the key water-measuring station on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the Karnataka government, told the bench that this had been a very difficult year and several areas had been declared drought-hit. He said, ‘We have to ensure conservation of water so that the drinking water supply in residential areas is not affected.’ Divan also said Tamil Nadu would get the benefit of the northeast monsoon in November, when its reservoirs would be replenished, while Karnataka would not. He added, ‘Every distress year, this has been the problem,’ and said there had been proper application of mind by the Cauvery Water Management Authority at its 59th meeting on October 8, when it directed Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs of water at Billigundulu from October 9 for 15 days.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Tamil Nadu, said Karnataka should be directed to release the shortfall on a pro-rata basis, otherwise crops in Tamil Nadu would be affected this year. The bench asked how the backlog could be cleared when rainfall had been scarce this year and both states had been affected. Justice Nath observed, ‘Had it been a normal year, things would have been different.’ Rohatgi said the matter could not wait for another year as farmers in Tamil Nadu were facing a tough time, and urged the court to make at least some interim arrangement.
In its plea filed through standing counsel B Karunakaran, the Tamil Nadu government said that at a meeting on September 24, the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee, based on the percentage of deficit, found that the flow realised at Billigundulu should have been 52.935 TMC and that there was a shortfall. It said, ‘In spite of noting the said deficit, the CWRC did not take any decision with regard to directing Karnataka to make good the shortfall and proceeded to reduce the flows from 6,000 cusecs to 4,000 cusecs. The CWRC directed Karnataka to ensure releases from its reservoirs so that 4,000 cusecs are received at Billigundulu in the next 15 days effective September 24.’
Tamil Nadu also gave data on water release and said Karnataka did not comply even with those directions and failed to ensure 4,000 cusecs every day. It said its share in this distress year had to be decided on a pro-rata basis, but the Cauvery Water Management Authority had not framed a distress formula even after eight years of its constitution to govern water-sharing in such years without ambiguity or unfair treatment to any state.
The state further said the water release directed by the CWMA, 4,000 cusecs at Billigundulu for 15 days from September 24 and 3,000 cusecs from October 9, was grossly inadequate and did not address the substantial backlog that had already built up. According to Tamil Nadu, on October 8 the CWRC again did not direct Karnataka to make good the shortfall and instead reduced the flows from 4,000 cusecs to 3,000 cusecs with effect from October 9.
Tamil Nadu sought directions to Karnataka to implement the CWMA decision of September 24, make good the shortfall of 0.94 TMC for the non-supply of water between September 24 and October 7, and ensure further flows as directed by the CWMA in its minutes of October 8. On September 24, the Supreme Court had asked Karnataka to respond to Tamil Nadu’s plea seeking release of its share of Cauvery water, alleging a shortfall in supply.
During the earlier hearing, Tamil Nadu had told the court it had already lost an early Kharif crop because of the lack of water, while Karnataka said it was facing a ‘terrible drought situation’. Tamil Nadu had moved the apex court on August 3, saying that both the quantity allocated to it by the CWRC and the quantity released by Karnataka were too little. The Supreme Court has now reserved its decision after hearing both states on Tamil Nadu’s request for immediate release of the backlog and continued flows.
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