By IANS,
New Delhi : The Tamil Nadu government Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar for the failure of his government to release 9,000 cusecs of water daily as ordered by the court Sep 28.
In its contempt petition, Tamil Nadu sought that Karnataka be hauled up and punished for “contempt for wilfully disobeying” the orders of the apex court to release 9,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to it.
In the meantime, the petition urged the court to direct Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs of water till Oct 15, and also make up for the deficit because of earlier shortfall in the release of water as directed by the court and earlier by Cauvery River Authority (CRA), headed by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The petition described the action of Karnataka government as “brazen, wilful, deliberate defiance” of the orders of the top court with “deliberate intent to undermine the dignity and respect of the highest court of the land”.
Besides Chief Minister Shettar, the petition has sought contempt proceedings against state’s Water Resources Minister Basavaraj S. Bommai, Chief Secretary S.V. Ranganath and other officials.
It noted said that apex court passed its Sep 28 order after it noted that Karnataka was not implementing the Sep 19 interim award of the CRA directing it to daily release 9,000 cusecs of water till Oct 15.
The Tamil Nadu government contended that after the apex court’s last order (Oct 8), there were several statements including by Shettar that Karnataka would stop the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.
The petition said that these statements and the act of stoppage of water constituted an act of wilful disobedience and the contempt of the court.
The court by its Oct 8 order had said that its Sep 28 order would not come in the way of the prime minister entertaining Karnataka’s application seeking the modification of the CRA award.
The contempt petition said that Karnataka government and its officials appear to believe that “they can defy, with impunity” the orders of the apex court and treat it with contempt.
“It would indeed be a sad day for the democracy and the rule of law in the country if they can get away with such disregard and defiance,” contended the Tamil Nadu government.