Tamil Nadu has asked the Supreme Court to urgently hear its complaint that Karnataka has not released Cauvery water as directed, claiming that crop damage has affected 4 lakh hectares of agricultural land this year. The request was made on Thursday, November 5, ahead of a meeting of the Cauvery Water Management Authority scheduled for November 6.
Tamil Nadu raised the matter before a bench headed by the Chief Justice of India. The state’s counsel, Karunakaran, told the bench that Karnataka had not released water at the rate directed by the Cauvery authority. According to the submission reported by Prajavani, the state was required to release 3,000 cusecs of water every day from October 23.
Tamil Nadu’s submission linked the alleged non-release of water to damage across 4 lakh hectares of agricultural land. The figure was presented to the Supreme Court by the state’s counsel. The report does not provide a separate assessment of the affected crops, the locations of the damaged fields or the financial value of the claimed loss.
The request places the dispute before the Supreme Court at a point when the inter-state water management mechanism is due to meet. Tamil Nadu asked the court to take up the Cauvery dispute at the earliest, citing the immediate agricultural consequences of the alleged shortfall and the approaching authority meeting.
The Chief Justice-led bench said it would examine the request. The statement indicates that the court acknowledged Tamil Nadu’s plea for an early listing or hearing, but the report does not say that the bench issued a fresh water-release direction on Thursday. It also does not report a response from Karnataka during the proceedings.
The immediate institutional question is how the direction to release 3,000 cusecs daily from October 23 is being implemented and reviewed. The Cauvery Water Management Authority meeting on November 6 is expected to provide the next formal forum for the states to present their positions on water releases and agricultural impacts.
The episode highlights the operational pressure created when a river-sharing direction is contested while farming conditions remain time-sensitive. For Tamil Nadu, the stated impact is crop damage over a large agricultural area. For the dispute-resolution system, the Supreme Court request and the scheduled authority meeting now form parallel channels for addressing the same disagreement.
Tamil Nadu’s urgent request was made on Thursday, one day before the authority’s meeting. The Supreme Court has said it will examine the plea. The next reported milestone is the Cauvery Water Management Authority meeting scheduled for November 6.
