Summary
In its 2018 Cauvery allocation judgment, the Supreme Court partly allowed Karnataka’s appeal, increasing its share by 14.75 TMC to 284.75 TMC and reducing Tamil Nadu’s to 404.25 TMC. Kerala’s 30 TMC and Puducherry’s 7 TMC remained unchanged. Karnataka’s normal-year delivery at Billigundulu became 177.25 TMC. The Court applied equitable apportionment, accounted for Tamil Nadu groundwater and Bengaluru’s drinking-water needs, and ordered an implementation scheme within six weeks.
Issues
- Whether the historical agreements survived constitutional changes and whether the 1924 agreement expired in 1974.
- How equitable apportionment, irrigation requirements, groundwater and drinking-water needs affected allocation.
- Whether the Union was obliged to frame an implementation scheme.
Provisions considered
- Article 363, Constitution of IndiaThe jurisdictional bar concerned political instruments; these water-sharing agreements lacked that character and did not attract the bar. (¶¶ 85, 99, 103, 104)
- Sections 2(c) and 3, Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956The water dispute required adjudication notwithstanding expiry of the 1924 agreement; allocation had to respect the States’ equal status and equitable interests. (¶¶ 148, 150, 163, 164, 165)
- Section 6A, Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956Rejected an unrestricted discretion not to implement the award; directed a scheme within six weeks to give effect to the award as judicially modified. (¶¶ 401, 402, 403, 404)
Held
- The 1892 and 1924 agreements were non-political arrangements concerning irrigation and public interests. Independence, the Constitution and State reorganisation did not extinguish them; the Article 363 bar and unconscionability challenge failed. However, construing its fixed term, the Court held that the 1924 agreement expired in 1974 after fifty years, contrary to the Tribunal’s view on that issue. (¶¶ 84, 104, 119, 127, 133, 146, 147, 404)
- Inter-State river waters are a national asset; no State has exclusive ownership or an absolute prescriptive right to natural flow. Equitable apportionment calls for collective assessment of relevant needs and circumstances, rather than arithmetically equal division. Existing uses matter without being absolute, and drinking water receives priority. (¶¶ 363, 364, 366, 367, 377, 378, 391, 404)
- The Court declined remand despite the dispute over Tamil Nadu’s late affidavit, considering from it factual material already available on record. It adopted an intermediary approach under Article 136 and sustained the Tribunal’s principal irrigation-area and crop-water assessments and the allocations to Kerala and Puducherry. (¶¶ 21, 22, 23, 24, 380, 382, 383, 384, 385)
- Empirical studies and Tamil Nadu’s admissions justified accounting for 10 TMC of available groundwater in its delta, cautiously and without increasing the assessed 740 TMC river yield. The Court rejected the assumption that groundwater would meet half Karnataka’s drinking-water needs and the restriction of Bengaluru’s entitlement to one-third of the city. It increased Karnataka’s domestic allocation by 4.75 TMC. (¶¶ 386, 387, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393)
- Karnataka’s total share became 284.75 TMC and Tamil Nadu’s 404.25 TMC, while Kerala retained 30 TMC, Puducherry 7 TMC, environmental protection 10 TMC and inevitable sea escapages 4 TMC. Karnataka was required to deliver 177.25 TMC at Billigundulu, with proportionate reduction of monthly releases while retaining the Tribunal’s pattern. (¶¶ 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 400)
- The Union was directed to frame a Section 6A implementation scheme within six weeks, with no extension on any ground. Subject to that scheme, the Tribunal’s consistent recommendations and monthly-release directions were endorsed for fifteen years from the judgment; need-based monthly delivery had to be respected. (¶¶ 401, 403, 404, 405)
Result
Karnataka’s Civil Appeal 2453 of 2007 partly allowed; other appeals disposed of accordingly, without costs. Allocations and border deliveries modified; Union directed to frame the implementation scheme within six weeks.