Cauvery Water Disputes

The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) was constituted by the Government of India on 2nd June 1990 to adjudicate the water dispute regarding inter-state river Cauvery and the river valley thereof. The Tribunal had also passed an Interim Order in June, 1991 and further Clarificatory Orders on the Interim Order in April, 1992 and December, 1995. The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal has submitted its reports and decision under Section 5 (2) of Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 to Government on 5th February, 2007. The party states and the Central Govt. have sought clarification and guidelines under Section 5(3) of the Act. The terms of the tribunal has been extended upto 2.11.08 as per provisions of ISRWD Act, 1956. Further, the party states have also filled SLPs in the Hon’ble Supreme Court against Cauvery tribunals report and Hon’ble Supreme Court has granted leave. The matter was last heard by Hon’ble Supreme Court on 29.7.08 and the Hon’ble court passed the order that the matter maybe listed before a three Judge bench in Nov, 2008. The final order of CWDT has however been published in the official gazette on 19th February 2013 and since then final order is effective and binding on the states.

Under the provisions of Section 6A of the ISWD Act, 1956, the Central Government has notified a Scheme called Cauvery Water (implementation of the Order of 1991 and all subsequent Related Orders of the Tribunal) Scheme, 1998, consisting of Cauvery River Authority (CRA) and Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC). The Cauvery River Authority consists of the Prime Minister as Chairperson and Chief Ministers of the basin States as members. The Monitoring Committee consists of Secretary, MOWR as Chairperson, Chief Secretaries and Chief Engineers of the basin States as Members and Chairman, Central Water Commission as Member. The Authority is required to give effect to the implementation of the Interim Order dated 25th June 1991 of the Tribunal and its related subsequent orders. So far CRA has held 7 meetings and CMC has held 32 meetings. 32nd meeting of CMC was held on 10.01.2013.

In pursuance to the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s direction dated 10th May, 2013, MoWR notified for the constitution of Supervisory Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary Ministry of Water Resources in the Gazette of India dated 22nd May, 2013 with Chief Secretaries of State Governments of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Union Territory Puducherry as the Members. In addition, Chairman, CWC is also one of the Member and Chief Engineer, CWC as the Member Secretary. The role of the committee is to give effect to the implementation of the CWDT, order dated 5th Feb., 2007. It has also been mentioned in the notification that the Committee shall follow its own procedure for conducting on its business. Till now five meetings have been held and last meeting was held on 28th September 2015.

• Final order of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal
• Report and Decision of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal

1. VOLUME - I: Background of Dispute and framing of Issues Download
2. VOLUME - II: Agreements of 1892 And 1924 Download
3. VOLUME - III: Availability of Water Download
4. VOLUME - IV: Principles Of Apportionment & Assessment of Irrigated Areas In The States of Tamil Nadu And Karnataka Download
5. VOLUME - V: Apportionment of The Waters of The Inter-State River Cauvery Download