With two judges on a Supreme Court bench – Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and A.S. Bopanna – recusing themselves from hearing a dispute among the neighbouring States of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka on the allocation of Krishna river, the Karnataka Government has filed an application before the Registrar General of the Supreme Court for early appointment of new judges to the bench for hearing the case and early gazette notification of the Krishna tribunal order on sharing of water.

Justice Chandrachud hails from Maharashtra while Justice Bopanna is from Karnataka. They recused themselves from hearing the case on January 10, 2022.

On February 8, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai chaired a meeting in New Delhi with the legal team representing Karnataka in the Supreme Court on river water dispute cases, officials of the Water Resources and Law departments, and Ministers J.C. Madhuswamy and Govind M. Karjol to discuss various pending cases pertained to river water sharing disputes.

After the meeting, Mr. Bommai said the government, in its application to the Registrar General of the Supreme Court, has urged the Chief Justice of the apex court to appoint two judges for hearing the case in the next sitting of the bench.

The meeting also decided to strongly oppose Tamil Nadu’s proposed projects in the Cauvery basin.

The Chief Minister said he would meet Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat for taking steps for early gazette notification of the Krishna Tribunal Award soon after the Supreme Court bench pronounced its verdict on the matter.

Following the Union Budget proposal on linking ofGodavari-Krishna, Krishna-Pennar, and Pennar-Cauvery, the Chief Minister said issues related to interlinking of rivers were discussed. A decision was taken to urge the Centre not to formulate detailed project reports till States’ share of river water was decided.

DPRs to be prepared only after beneficiary States reached a consensus on sharing of water of rivers. The legal team was asked to convey the State’s stand to the Jal Shakti ministry on preparations of DPRs, Mr. Bommai said.

On Mekedatu reservoir in the Cauvery basin,Mr. Bommai said the legal team has been asked to file the State’s appeals before the NGT and Supreme Court opposing the Tamil Nadu Government’s objections to the drinking water project.

The Chief Minister said, during his next visit, he would meet Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and urge him to direct the departments concerned to provide environment and forest clearances for the Mekedatu project.

The legal team has been directed to file objections of Karnataka against Tamil Nadu’s plan to take up the second phase of the Hogenakkal combined drinking water project. Tamil Nadu has proposed to prepare a detailed project report for the second phase of the Hogenakkal project at an estimated cost of ₹4,600 crore.

“Our stand (on Tamil Nadu’s project) will be placed before the Cauvery Water Management Authority as it involves taking up hydro-electricity projects,” the Chief Minister said.

The Chief Minister said the Mahadayi water dispute too was discussed. A final hearing by the Supreme Court is awaited. Both Goa and Karnataka have opposed the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal’s final award.

The Karnataka Government has prepared a DPR based on the tribunal’s award. Already interlinking canal work has been completed. The tribunal sought some clarifications, which the State has responded to.If the tribunal clears the DRP, the water would get diverted, the Chief Minister said.

The Central Government issued a gazette notification in February 2020 permitting Karnataka to draw 13.42 tmcft of water from the Mahadayi river out of which 8 tmcft is for power generation.