Cauvery Dispute: Supreme Court raps centre over delay in constituting Cauvery Management Board

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rapped the Centre over the delay in constituting the Cauvery Management Board (CMB), stating that further delay in the decision can be contempt of court.
The next hearing of the ongoing dispute has been scheduled for May 14.
The apex court also demanded the Union Water secretary to be present before the Court at 10:30 am with the draft scheme on Cauvery water sharing issue mechanism.
The Karnataka Government on May 7 had filed an affidavit before the apex court, claiming the latter released more water from Cauvery river to Tamil Nadu than what was allotted to it while settling the dispute.
On February 16, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court pronounced the judgement on the Cauvery Water Dispute between the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
The bench directed Karnataka to release 177.25 TMC of water, instead of the 192 TMC to Tamil Nadu. It also directed the Centre to constitute a Cauvery Management Board (CMB) in six weeks.
However, the Centre failed to form the CMB within given time frame. Following this, on April 9, the top court asked the Centre to frame a draft scheme by May 3.
The central government sought an extension of two weeks from the top court to draft the water sharing scheme.

(ANI)