Updated on Monday, February 05, 2007, 00:00 IST

New Delhi, Feb 05: The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) is scheduled to pronounce its final order on Monday, bringing to an end a 16-year-long process to resolve the inter-State dispute over sharing of the river waters among Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. Constituted on June 2, 1990, the Tribunal gave its interim award on June 25, 1991, directing Karnataka to release 205 TMCFT of water every year to Tamil Nadu.

There has been constant friction between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu on Cauvery waters issue which assumes sharp political tones quite often which is often resolved by the bounty of monsoons.

The Tribunal, comprising Chairman Justice N P Singh and members N S Rao and Sudhir Narain, reserved verdict on July 27 last year at the conclusion of marathon proceedings on various aspects of the dispute, namely allocation of water as per crop requirements, the cropping pattern and the mechanism for implementation of the final award.

During arguments, Tamil Nadu had urged the tribunal to pass the final award, allocating 562 TMCFT as its share. In its perception, Karnataka's requirement, based on a scientific assessment, was only 175 TMCFT.

Tamil Nadu also wanted the tribunal to set up an Authority for administering and controlling all specified reservoirs in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to ensure timely release of the due share of waters to each State as per the final award.

Bureau Report