Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna today earned a reprieve in the Cauvery contempt case by tendering an ‘‘unconditional apology’’ to the Supreme Court and intimating that he had started releasing water to Tamil Nadu the previous night.A bench headed by Chief Justice of India B N Kirpal did not however accept the written apology and instead kept the issue in abeyance till Friday, which is Kirpal’s last working day. The bench — which includes Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice Arijit Pasayat — made it clear that the question of Krishna being punished in any way for contempt would depend on the volume of water that reaches Tamil Nadu by the next hearing.‘‘We have not yet accepted the apology. It is only put on record. Let’s see how things work out. Let’s see whether farmers in Tamil Nadu get water,’’ the bench said.The Centre has been asked to verify Karnataka’s promise of releasing 10,000 cusecs of water every day to Tamil Nadu.Tamil Nadu’s counsel K K Venugopal urged the court not to accept Krishna’s apology and alleged that he was only paying ‘‘lip service’’ and trying to ‘‘placate’’ the judges, who had warned in the last hearing on October 24 that they would pass an order today holding him guilty of wilfully committing contempt.But Solicitor-General Harish Salve, appearing for the Centre, said that Tamil Nadu should show some ‘‘statesmanship’’ and appreciate the fact that Karnataka had given up its ‘‘defiance’’ of the court order and was trying to uphold the Constitution despite all the odds stacked against it.‘‘We are happy to know that a constitutional crisis has blown over,’’ the bench said, even as it expressed displeasure over the past conduct of the state. ‘‘What caused us greater anguish is that the state of Karnataka, foremost in development, showed scant respect to the Supreme Court’s order. It is disgraceful.’’The main point of interest in the next hearing of the contempt case is Tamil Nadu’s demand that it should be compensated for the loss of crop it already suffered on account of Karnataka’s intransigence.
