You are in contempt, CJI tells Centre in Cauvery issue
New Delhi, May 8 : Telling the Centre that it was in "sheer contempt", the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Secretary, Water Resources Ministry, to be personally present in the court on May 14 along with the scheme for the implementation of the Cauvery Tribunal Award.
The bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y.Chandrachud directed the presence of the top Water Resources official as Attorney General K.K.Venugopal sought six days' time for the Karnataka election to be over before the government takes a decision.
"You (Centre) are in sheer contempt of the court," the CJI told Venugopal.
The AG said the draft scheme for the implementation of the Cauvery award was before the Cabinet and the meeting has not taken place as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers were busy campaigning in Karnataka, where assembly elections are slated to be held on May 12.
He sought six days' time for filing the scheme but senior counsel Shekhar Naphade, appearing for Tamil Nadu, asked why it cannot be filed on Thursday and Friday.
As Venugopal said the officers who instruct (on the matter) are not working on Saturdays and Sundays, Naphade took a jibe, saying: "We are servants for 24 hours, 365 days", an obvious reference to the statement by a top functionary of the government.
When the AG asked "Who said that", Naphade replied: "You want me to quote?" and added, the top functionary said it last week.
The AG justified the Centre seeking more time saying that it was a sensitive matter having a bearing on the law and order situation.
Naphade said that they will not implement the order of the court on the grounds of law and order.
On another occasion, when the AG said that the release of water was not within the authority of the Cauvery Management Board, Naphade was quick to point out that the people of Tamil Nadu will not get water, no matter what happens.
Noting that Central government has not framed for scheme for implementing its February 16 judgment, the top court, in the last hearing on May 3, had observed that "... Karnataka will release water as per Tribunal award. You will release 4 TMC of water. Please see how much water can be released by end of May."
Karnataka has told the top court that it has already released the Cauvery water that Tamil Nadu was entitled to under the "distress formula" due to deficient rainfall and needed remaining water for drinking purposes in Bengaluru and the areas falling under its part of the Cauvery basin.
However, Tamil Nadu in its response has contended that Karnataka had enough water to release 4 TMC of water to cover the shortfall of 1.4 TMC for April and the allocation of 2.4 TMC for May this year
Tamil Nadu has told the apex court that "Karnataka has 19.834 TMC ft. of water as on May 4 in its four reservoirs" and the storage in "Mettur Dam is 9.502 TMC ft. (the utilizable storage being only 4.502 TMC ft)".
Thus, Karnataka "is in a better position and can easily spare the 4 TMC ft" even after meeting the requirement of drinking water supply for May, that is 1.6 TMC ft, Tamil Nadu submitted.
The top court by its February 16 judgment had asked the Centre to frame a scheme for the implementation of the tribunal award and its judgment. It had given the Centre six weeks time, that came to end on March 30, for this purpose.
Tamil Nadu had on March 31 moved the top court seeking contempt action against the Centre for "willful disobedience" in carrying out the mandate of the apex court on constituting the Cauvery Management Board for which the six-week deadline expired on Friday.
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Rupee hits all-time low for second time in a week
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 31 paise to settle at 91.99 against the US dollar on Wednesday, touching the lowest closing level for the second time in less than a week, amid increased month-end demand for the greenback.
Forex traders said the rupee opened higher as the US dollar index softened and a long-awaited trade breakthrough with Europe offered quiet reassurance. However, increased month-end demand for the American currency as well as the ongoing geopolitical tensions dented investors' sentiments.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 91.60 and touched an early high of 91.50, but pared all the gains to touch an intra-day low of 91.99 against the greenback.
The domestic unit settled 31 paise down, revisiting its lowest-ever closing level of 91.99 against the greenback. The Indian currency previously ended at this level on January 23 when it also hit its all-time intraday low of 92 against the US dollar.
On Tuesday, the rupee rebounded from its all-time low levels and gained 22 paise to close at 91.68 against the US dollar.
Analysts said the rupee opened higher as the US dollar index softened and a long-awaited trade breakthrough with Europe bolstered investor sentiment.
India and the European Union on Tuesday announced the conclusion of negotiations for the free trade agreement (FTA), under which a number of domestic sectors such as apparel, chemicals and footwear will get duty-free entry into the 27-nation bloc, while the EU will get access to the Indian market at concessional duty for cars and wines, an official said.
The deal has been dubbed the "mother of all deals" as it will create a market of about 2 billion people.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.07 per cent lower at 96.14.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.43 per cent lower at USD 67.28 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex jumped 487.20 points to settle at 82,344.68, while Nifty surged 167.35 points to 25,342.75.
Foreign Institutional Investors turned net buyers and purchased equities worth Rs 480.26 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
