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July 13, 1998

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Karunanidhi appeals to MPs to pressurise Centre over Cauvery

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has appealed to members of Parliament from the state and Pondicherry to exert pressure on the Centre to finalise the draft proposal scheme for the implementation of the interim award of the Cauvery water disputes tribunal.

In a six-page letter to Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry MPs, copies of which have been released to the press in Madras, he appealed to the MPs to raise the issue in both the houses of Parliament and highlight the state's legitimate right and ensure that the Centre finalise the draft scheme and issue a gazette notification soon.

Karunanidhi pointed out that the Centre had informed the Supreme Court on April 9, 1997, that it would submit a draft scheme following which the Centre sought the views of the concerned states.

The Tamil Nadu government replied to the Centre on June 23 last, agreeing to some views. Then the Supreme Court had, on August 20, 1997, asked the Centre to submit the draft proposal scheme before the next hearing on July 21 next.

Since the Centre had not heeded to the state's request despite several representations, the state government had written letters to Prime Minister A B Vajpayee in March, April and May last year and also informed him in person about the need for finalising the draft plan and issue it under government gazette notification, he recalled.

Karunanidhi contended that the award was binding on all states concerned, as it had been notified in the official gazette on December 10, 1991. However, Karnataka had failed to implement the award and instead enacted a law and challenged the award in the Supreme Court.

The Karnataka government was adamant in its stand even after the apex court had held that the tribunal had the powers to give such an award and dismissed the case following Karnataka's decision to withdraw it.

Under these circumstances, the Tamil Nadu government had urged the Centre to issue a gazette notification to implement the award. As the stalemate continued, Tamil Nadu had filed a case in the Supreme Court in 1992, seeking a direction to the Centre to finalise a draft scheme. However, the case was referred to a constitutional bench in March 1997 as it involved legal niceties.

When the bench commenced the hearing, the attorney-general gave an undertaking to the court that the Centre would formulate a draft scheme, he added.

UNI

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