SC asks Karnataka to follow Cauvery order, to review water release next week

The Supreme Court on Monday directed Karnataka to comply with the Cauvery Water Management Authority's (CWMA) directions on releasing water to Tamil Nadu, but said it would wait a week to assess compliance. Hindustan Times reports the bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta noted Tamil Nadu currently had sufficient water and did not pass any fresh coercive order.

Tamil Nadu's senior advocate CS Vaidyanathan told the court Karnataka was not following the CWMA direction to release 12,000 cusecs a day from August 12. He said Karnataka's reservoirs had 76% live storage but Tamil Nadu received only 14 TMC against a tribunal award of 64 TMC. Karnataka's senior advocate Shyam Divan disputed this, saying the state had exceeded the mandated flow and released over 12,000 cusecs as of Monday morning. He added that water from the Krishna Raja Sagar reservoir takes 48 hours to reach the border point.

Karnataka submitted it had released 86,797 cusecs at Biligundlu between July 29 and August 10 against the required 45,500 cusecs, and argued the 2026-27 water year was a distress year. Times Now reports the court remarked, "It is not that the state is not giving water to you." The matter will be heard again on August 26 for a fresh assessment.