Centre fails to submit draft scheme on Cauvery in SC
New Delhi, May 3: The Centre yet again failed to submit a draft Scheme on the Cauvery river water dispute before the Supreme Court on the ground that the Prime Minister and other ministers were campaigning in Karnataka, which Tamil Nadu flayed as "brazen partisanship".
Seeking 10 more days to finalize the scheme, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal told Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud: "A draft scheme has been placed before the Cabinet. Because of Karnataka elections, the Prime Minister and all other Ministers are in Karnataka. Before that the Prime Minister was abroad (in China)."
The Centre's submission was countered strongly by senior counsel Shekhar Naphade, appearing for Tamil Nadu, who said: "Sorry to say, the Central government is politicizing the issue. They are worried about their electoral fate in Karnataka. Election in Karnataka is on May 12 and somehow they don't want to do it till then. We have enough of it. It is brazen partisanship of the Union of India. It is the end of co-operative federalism."
The apex court in its February 16 judgement had directed the Centre to frame a Scheme within six months in accordance with the recommendation by the Cauvery River Water Tribunal for constitution of the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and Cauvery Regulatory Authority (CRA), which Karnataka opposes strongly.
On the expiry of the six-week deadline, the Centre sought extension of time till the completion of the electoral process in Karnata for submission of the Scheme. Tamil Nadu filed a contempt petition against the Centre for failure to act within the deadline.
During Thursday's hearing, the court directed the Karnataka government to respond on how much of the four TMC of water it can release by month end. It also sought response from the Centre on the steps taken by it since the pronouncing of the judgement for putting in place a scheme for implementing its order on the sharing of Cauvery water among Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.
In the course of the hearing, the court asked Karnataka to release 4 TMC of water by Monday.
The court said that even if the Centre has not framed the scheme, Karnataka, under the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal award, was obliged to make monthly releases to Tamil Nadu.
The court directed the next hearing of the matter on Tuesday.
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Main accused in Delhi Police constable murder shot dead in Sangam Vihar
New Delhi (PTI): A day after the fatal stabbing of a Delhi Police constable, the main accused in the case was shot dead in an encounter with the personnel of the force in south Delhi's Sangam Vihar area, officials said on Sunday.
Constable Kiran Pal was stabbed to death by three people on Saturday while on night patrolling duty in southeast Delhi's Govindpuri area. Two accused -- Deepak Max and Krish Gupta -- were arrested later in that day.
The third accused, Raghav -- who stabbed Pal with a knife -- was hiding in Sangam Vihar, a senior police officer of Special Cell said.
Acting on specific information, teams of NDR of Special Cell and Narcotics Cell of South East District, went to the area connecting Sangam Vihar and Surajkund Road late on Saturday night, the officer said.
The accused was identified and asked to surrender. He, however, opened fire at the police personnel who retaliated in self-defence and injured the accused.
"He was immediately taken to the ESIC Hospital, Okhla, where he died," the officer said.
A pistol with two cartridges have been seized, the police officer said, adding no police official was injured in the encounter.
Constable Kiran Pal, posted at Govindpuri Police Station, was on night patrolling duty when he stopped three people riding a scooty in the early hours of Saturday.
The accused threw stones at the constable to evade arrest but he managed to waylay them by putting his bike in front of their vehicle, the officer said.
The constable also took away the keys of the scooty and started questioning the trio during which the accused stabbed him, the officer added.
