Jaya muddies Cauvery again

NEW DELHI/CHENNAI, Aug 8: While the draft scheme for the constitution of the Cauvery authority is likely to be finalised by Monday and th...

NEW DELHI/CHENNAI, Aug 8: While the draft scheme for the constitution of the Cauvery authority is likely to be finalised by Monday and the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have both welcomed the new proposals, the AIADMK today rejected the agreement calling it against the interests of Tamil Nadu.

Deploring Chief Minister M Karunanidhi for what they called his forsaking the original draft plan and agreeing to the establishment of a new authority 8220;without any powers,8221; the AIADMK and its allies accused him of having ruined the chances of arriving at a permanent solution to the Cauvery tangle.

They demanded that the original draft scheme for setting up a Cauvery river water sharing authority be notified and urged the Centre to submit the original draft plan before the Supreme Court on August 12 when the next hearing in the Cauvery case will take place.

After a meeting, AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalitha and her allies PMK leader S Ramadoss, MDMK chief Vaiko and Janata Party presidentSubramanian Swamy said that the new agreement had diluted the original draft plan and was inimical to the interests of Tamil Nadu8217;s farmers.

8220;If Karunanidhi had refused to attend the meeting in Delhi, we would have pressured the Central Government to notify the original draft plan,8221; they said.

They alleged that Karunanidhi had provided a chance to the Centre to seek further adjournments in the case by claiming that a 8220;broad agreement8221; had been reached at the Chief Ministers8217; meeting and the modalities of setting up the coordination committee were being worked out. 8220;A golden chance for implementing the tribunal order awarded seven years ago has been frittered away by Karunanidhi,8221; they charged.

Contrary to the original Cauvery river water sharing authority which had clearly devolved powers, the newly proposed authority8217;s jurisdiction has not been demarcated and it is entirely a political body, the leaders claimed.

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According to them, the proposed five-member authority, headed by the PrimeMinister, had no powers to take decisions on the basis of majority opinion, and if any State struck a dissenting note, no decision could be taken.Moreover, the powers of the proposed monitoring committee were yet to be defined, and on this count too, there was no unanimity among the States, they said.

However, a broad agreement on the powers and functions of the proposed monitoring committee was reached among the chief secretaries of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Pondicherry at a meeting with Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar late last night. The accord will have to be ratified by the political leadership of the States concerned. After the ratification of the draft scheme by the political leadership of the four States, the Centre may gazette it before August 12 when the SC will hear the Cauvery case.

Alternatively, it may just inform the court about the agreement and issue the notification later. Karnataka has wholeheartedly accepted it, as indicated by its Irrigation Minister, K N Nage Gowda, heretoday. He said his State had been insisting on solving the water dispute through a dialogue all these years and this stand had been vindicated. The proposed authority provided an institutional framework for a negotiated settlement of any dispute, he said. The acceptance in principle of the powers and functions of the monitoring committee by all the States points to a dilution of the stand taken by Tamil Nadu which wanted the body to be invested with statutory powers.