It will decide on water sharing. Three days after the Karnataka Assembly election results and three months after the Supreme Court’s order, the Union government on Friday issued a notification for the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA). The authority will decide the sharing of the river water among the States of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry. MPs of both the AIADMK and the DMK had stalled the winter session of Parliament over the delay in the formation of the authority. They had accused the BJP government of delaying the formation of the authority for electoral gains in Karnataka. The authority’s mandate will be to monitor the storage, apportion shares, supervise operation of reservoirs and regulate water releases with the assistance of the Regulation Committee. It will regulate water release by Karnataka at the Biligundulu gauge and discharge station. The CWMA will determine the total residual storage in the specified reservoirs on June 1 every year. “The share of each State will be determined on the basis of the flows together with the available carry-over storage in the reservoirs,” the notification says. The withdrawals will be allowed on the basis of the share worked out for each State. “If the Authority finds that any Government of the party States, namely Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Union territory of Puducherry do not cooperate in implementing the decision or direction of the Tribunal, it can seek the help of the Central Government for implementation of the Award of the Tribunal as modified by the Hon’ble Supreme Court vide Order of 16th February, 2018,” the notification says. Five-year tenure The chairman of the authority will be appointed by the Central government for a tenure of five years. He has to be a senior and eminent engineer with wide experience in water resource management or an IAS office in the rank of secretary or additional secretary. There will be two part-time members — representatives of the Central Government of the rank of Joint Secretary to be nominated by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare respectively and four part-time members from party States — administrative secretaries in charge of Water Resource Departments of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry who shall be nominated by the State governments and Union territory administration respectively.<doc-sep>The centre has constituted the Cauvery Water Management Authority in compliance with a top court order The centre on Friday constituted the Cauvery Water Management Authority in compliance with a Supreme Court order to address the water dispute involving the states of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.A notification by the Water Resources Ministry said the authority will be headed by a chairman and it will have two whole time and as many part time members. While the whole time members will be appointed by the centre, the other two will be nominated by it.Besides this, the four states will nominate one representative each as additional part time members of the committee. The secretary of the authority shall also be appointed by the centre.The notification comes weeks after the Supreme Court while disposing of all applications regarding Cauvery dispute on May 18, approved the proposed 'Cauvery Water Management Authority' and asked the centre to notify it in the official gazette and give effect to it with "promptitude before onset of impending monsoon".<doc-sep>‘Rights of Tamil Nadu and livelihood of farmers restored’ Hailing the notification of the Cauvery Water Management Authority in the Central Gazette by the Union Ministry of Water Resources and River Development on Friday, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said it was a massive victory to the ruling AIADMK government and the farmers in the State. “With these, the rights of Tamil Nadu and the livelihood of farmers have been restored. I express my happiness and gratitude to all those who contributed towards this,” Mr. Palaniswami said in a seven-page statement. Recalling the efforts his government took after the Supreme Court judgment on February 16 this year that a scheme was to be formulated in this issue, the Chief Minister said he had insisted over this matter with the Prime Minister. He also recalled the adjournment of Parliament proceedings for 22 days by AIADMK MPs in the regard. Contempt plea In a meeting on March 29, the Chief Minister after a discussion with Advocate General, Chief Secretary and senior officials decided to move a contempt plea against the Centre for not formulating a scheme as per the apex court verdict. The scheme was submitted before the Supreme Court on May 14. “On my instructions, senior advocates argued on behalf of Tamil Nadu that the Cauvery Water Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulatory Authority, with all powers as envisaged in the Supreme Court judgment, have to be constituted at once,” the Chief Minister said.<doc-sep>
Cauvery row: Water Ministry directs govt gazette to publish notification of scheme With this, the authority, which will play a major role in sharing of the river's waters amongst three states and a Union Territory, is finally official. news Cauvery Management Authority The Ministry of Water Resources and River Development on Friday directed that the Cauvery Water Management Authority be published in the government gazette. With this, the authority, which will play a major role in sharing of the river's waters amongst three states and a Union Territory is finally official. In May, the Supreme Court approved the Cauvery Water Management Scheme, framed under Section 6A of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act of 1956. The establishment of the Cauvery Management Board and the Regulation Committee comes following the apex courtâ€™s February 16 verdict. The directive for the publication has been given by Senior Joint Commissioner RK Kanodia to the manager of the Government of India Press. The directive reads, "Please find enclosed a notification(in English & Hindi) duly signed by Joint Secretary, Government of India regarding framing of Cauvery Management Scheme. It is requested to publish this Notification and upload it on egazette.nic.in immediately. Soft copy has already been e-mailed.." Headquartered in Delhi, the Cauvery Management Authority will be the sole body to implement the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal award as modified by the SC. The Centre, as per reports, would have no say except for issuing administrative advisories to it. The Authority will be assisted in the discharge of its functions by a Regulatory Committee. A bench consisting of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud has further directed the government to notify them before the monsoon season sets in June. It took nearly three months after the Supreme Court order for the Centre to file the draft scheme in court. The NDA government had come under immense criticism for delaying the finalisation of the scheme because of the Karnataka election. The Government's counsel had even said in court that the cabinet was yet to approve of the scheme as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers were campaigning in Karnataka where election took place on May 12.