Sc/PRAYER It is, therefore, most respectfully prayed that this Hon’ble Court may graciously be pleased to: a) Direct the State of Karnataka / Respondent No. 1 to forthwith and fully implement the direction of the CWRC dated 28.07.2026, as affirmed by the CWMA on 30.07.2026, by ensuring a flow of 3,500 cusecs per day at Biligundlu for the period of 15 days commencing from date of the order passed by this Hon’ble Court, and to make good the shortfall in compliance from 29.07.2026 onwards; b) Direct the State of Karnataka / Respondent No. 1 to make good the accumulated backlog of about 9.46 TMC due at Biligundlu as on 26.07.2026, computed on the pro-rata / distress-sharing basis, by ensuring releases such that about 7,000 cusecs per day is realised at Biligundlu over a period of 15 days; c) Direct the CWMA to monitor the releases from the reservoirs of the State of Karnataka and the flows realised at Biligundlu on a day-to-day basis and to report compliance to this Hon’ble Court; d) Pass such further Order or Orders as this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case, and thus render justice. AND FOR THIS ACT OF KINDNESS, THE APPLICANT AS IN DUTY BOUND SHALL EVER PRAY. DRAWN BY: RICHARDSON WILSON, ADVOCATE LOKESH KRISHNA, ADVOCATE SETTLED BY: P WILSON, SENIOR ADVOCATE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
(CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION)
M.A. NO. _________ OF 2026
IN
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2453 OF 2007
IN THE MATTER OF:
C.A. No. 2453 of 2007:
1. State of Karnataka,
By its Chief Secretary,
Government of Karnataka,
Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore.
Appellant
Versus
1. State of Tamil Nadu,
Through the Secretary,
Public Works Department,
Respondent
Government of Tamil Nadu,
No.1 Fort St. George, Chennai.
2. State of Kerala,
By its Chief Secretary,
Government of Kerala,
Respondent
Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram.
No.2
3. Union Territory of Puducherry,
By its Chief Secretary, Respondent
Puducherry.
No.3
4. Union of India, By its Secretary,
Ministry of Jal Shakti,
Department of WR, RD & GR,
Shram Shakti Bhawan, New Delhi.
Respondent
No.4
5. Cauvery Water Management Authority, through its Chairman, MTNL Building, Upper Ground Floor, Bhikaji Cama Place,
New Delhi – 110 066
IN THE MATTER OF:
M.A. No. _________ of 2026:
Proposed
Respondent
No.5
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK),
Represented by Thiru A.K.S. Vijayan,
Secretary, Farmers Wing (Vivasayigal Ani),
Aks ilam, Sithamali, muthupetai taluk,
Applicant
Thiruvarur Dist. 614705, Tamil Nadu.
AN APPLICATION FOR DIRECTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE
APPLICANT
To,
The Hon’ble Chief Justice of India and His Lordship’s Companion Justices of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.
The humble application of the Applicant above named:
MOST RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH:
1. The Applicant, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (hereinafter referred to as “the Applicant party”), represented by Thiru A.K.S. Vijayan, Agriculturalist and Secretary of its Farmers Wing ( Vivasayigal Ani), is constrained to move the present application seeking urgent directions against the State of Karnataka / Respondent No.
1 herein to implement the Judgment of this Hon’ble Court dated 16.02.2018, with respect to delivering Cauvery waters at the designated inter-State contact point at Biligundlu, as per the monthly schedule, and to forthwith comply with the binding directions of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (“CWRC”) dated 28.07.2026 , as affirmed by the Cauvery Water
Management Authority ( “CWMA”) in its meeting held on 30.07.2026. The CWMA and the CWRC are statutory authorities established under the Cauvery Water Management Scheme, 2018, notified by the Central Government on 01.06.2018 under Section 6A of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, for the implementation of the Final Order dated 05.02.2007 passed by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal ( “the Tribunal”) as modified by this Hon’ble Court in its Judgment dated 16.02.2018. A true copy of the judgement dated 16.02.2018 passed by this
Hon’ble Court in Civil Appeal Nos. 2453, 2454 and 2456 of 2007 is annexed herewith and marked as ANNEXURE A-1. ( Pg. No.15-479)
2. It is submitted that the Applicant party has, for over five decades, been in the vanguard of the struggle to secure the rightful share of the Cauvery waters for the State of Tamil Nadu and the farmers of the Cauvery Delta. The very constitution of the Tribunal on
02.06.1990 was the direct outcome of the relentless struggle waged by the Applicant party under the leadership of its late President, Kalaignar Dr. M. Karunanidhi, including the historic legal battle culminating in the judgment of this Hon’ble Court in Tamil Nadu Cauvery Neerppasana Vilaiporulgal Vivasayigal Nala Urimai Padhugappu Sangam v. Union of India, (1990) 3 SCC 440, wherein the Union of India was directed to constitute the Tribunal. Thiru A.K.S. Vijayan, who represents the Applicant party, is himself an agriculturist owning agricultural lands at Elam Sithamalli Village, Muthupettai Taluk, Thiruvarur District, in the heart of the Cauvery Delta, and is personally and directly affected by the non-release of Cauvery waters. He served as a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) for fifteen years from 1999 to 2014 and thereafter as the Special Representative of the Government of Tamil Nadu at New Delhi, and had accompanied the former Minister for Water Resources of the State of Tamil Nadu in deliberations concerning the Cauvery dispute. The Applicant is personally aware of the grave and continuing injustice meted out to the farmers of the Cauvery Delta by the persistent refusal of the State of Karnataka to abide by the Final Order of the Tribunal as modified by this Hon’ble Court.
3. It is submitted that as per the Final Order of the Tribunal, as modified by the Judgment of this Hon’ble Court, the monthly stipulated flows to be ensured by the State of Karnataka at Biligundlu during the months of June to January every water year are as under:
Month Quantum (in TMC)
June 9.19
July 31.24
August 45.95
September 36.76
June to September 123.14
October 20.22
November 13.78
December 7.35
January 2.76
October to January 44.11
June to January 167.25
4. It is submitted that about 14.913 lakh acres (net area) in the Cauvery Delta are dependent on the Mettur reservoir for irrigation, which in turn depends upon the flows realised at Biligundlu from the releases made by Karnataka from its reservoirs. About 4 million farmers and about 10 million agricultural labourers directly and indirectly depend on Mettur water for their very livelihood. The farmers of the lower riparian districts of Tamil Nadu, viz., Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai,
Tiruchirappalli and other delta districts, are the worst affected by the non-release of water. The Kuruvai crop already raised is withering for want of water, and unless the directed releases are immediately effected and the backlog made good, the standing crops will be irretrievably lost, causing enormous damage and wastage and gravely affecting the livelihood of the farmers, including the Applicant himself, whose lands are situate in the tailend of the Delta in Thiruvarur District. The right to livelihood of the farmers of the Cauvery Delta, guaranteed under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India, is thus directly imperilled.
5. It is submitted that in the current water year 2026-27, the SouthWest Monsoon has been deficient in the Cauvery basin, and the flows realised at Biligundlu have been dismally low — of the order of only about 10% of the quantum prescribed for the relevant period under the schedule aforesaid. Even after applying the prorata / distress-sharing formula with reference to the shortfall in the cumulative inflows into the four designated reservoirs of Karnataka as against the 30-year average inflows, the accumulated backlog due to the State of Tamil Nadu at Biligundlu stood at about 9.46 TMC as on 26.07.2026. The realisation of the said waters is critical for the sustenance of the Kuruvai cultivation in the Cauvery Delta, the nursery and transplantation operations whereof were undertaken by the farmers in legitimate expectation of the scheduled flows.
6. It is submitted that the CWRC, at its meeting held on 28.07.2026 at New Delhi, deliberated upon the hydro-meteorological situation in the Cauvery basin, the storage and inflow position of the reservoirs, the outflows, and the forecast of the India Meteorological Department. The State of Tamil Nadu placed on record the aforesaid backlog of about 9.46 TMC and urged that the State of Karnataka be directed to release water at the rate of about 7,000 cusecs per day for 15 days, aggregating to about 9.45 TMC, so as to make good the backlog computed on the distress-sharing basis. The State of Karnataka, on the other hand, opposed any release, pleading acute distress, shortfall in inflows, low reservoir storage, drinking water requirements and conveyance losses, and sought that the matter be kept in abeyance. After a conscious consideration of all the said aspects, the CWRC directed the State of Karnataka to ensure a flow of
3,500 cusecs per day at Biligundlu for a period of 15 days commencing from 8:00 a.m. on 29.07.2026, aggregating to about 4.5 TMC – a quantum which is itself far below the entitlement of the State of Tamil Nadu even on the distress-sharing basis. A true copy of the newspaper article dated 01.08.2026 titled ‘CWMA upholds Cauvery water release to Tamil Nadu’, wherein CWMA upheld the CWRC’s order and directed the State of Karnataka to ensure a flow of 3,500 cusecs per day at Biligundlu for a period of 15 days commencing from 8:00 a.m. on 29.07.2026 is annexed herewith and marked as ANNEXURE A-2. ( Pg. No.480-482)
7. It is submitted that instead of complying with the said direction, the State of Karnataka carried the matter before the CWMA, seeking that the direction of the CWRC be deferred / kept in abeyance for a fortnight. The CWMA, the apex statutory authority under the Scheme, at its meeting held on 30.07.2026 at New Delhi under the Chairmanship of Shri S.K. Haldar, heard both the States in extenso. After taking note of the improvement in the inflows into the reservoirs of Karnataka (including the Kabini reservoir nearing its full capacity), and the projection of at least about 15 TMC of further inflows during the ensuing period, the CWMA recorded a clear finding that the release directed by the CWRC would not jeopardise the drinking water requirements of the State of Karnataka, rejected the plea of the State of Karnataka for deferment, and upheld and reiterated in full the direction of the CWRC to ensure a flow of 3,500 cusecs per day at Biligundlu for 15 days commencing from 29.07.2026.
8. It is submitted that notwithstanding the concurrent and binding directions of both the statutory authorities, the State of Karnataka
has neither released the water nor evinced the slightest intention of doing so. On the contrary, the responsible functionaries of the State of Karnataka, including at the highest levels of its Government, have openly and publicly declared in press conferences that the State of Karnataka “will not release the water” and will instead pursue its remedies. A true copy of the Newspaper Article ‘Why Release Water When We Can Hold It
Back? Says Shivakumar as Cauvery Water Dispute Drags On’ evidencing the said public declarations of defiance by the State of
Karnataka are annexed herewith and marked as ANNEXURE A-
3. ( Pg. No.483-485)
9. It is submitted that the actual flows recorded at Biligundlu on and after 29.07.2026 have remained negligible and nowhere near the directed quantum of 3,500 cusecs per day, which demonstrates that the State of Karnataka is in wilful and contumacious disobedience, not merely of the directions of the CWRC and the
CWMA but, in effect, of the Judgment of this Hon’ble Court dated 16.02.2018 itself, which the said statutory authorities are constituted to implement.
10. It is submitted that the present period is the most crucial period of the entire water year for the Cauvery Delta, and it is precisely now that the water is required to flow. Under the schedule stipulated by this Hon’ble Court, out of the annual quantum of 167.25 TMC, as much as 123.14 TMC – nearly three-fourths – is to be realised at Biligundlu during the months of June to September alone, for the reason that it is during this window that the Kuruvai (short-
term) paddy crop is raised and the preparatory and transplantation operations for the Samba (long-term) crop are undertaken in the Delta. The month of June is the crucial commencement point of the agricultural calendar: the Mettur Reservoir is customarily opened on the 12th of June every year for Kuruvai cultivation, and the Kuruvai crop, being a shortduration crop of about 100 to 110 days, must be sown by end June and harvested by early October, before the onset of the North-East monsoon. The cultivation window is thus narrow and unforgiving. Water which is not realised during this period cannot be compensated by releases at any later point of time, for by then the season itself would stand irretrievably lost.
11. It is submitted that in the current water year, on account of the failure of the State of Karnataka to ensure even a fraction of the scheduled flows in June and July, the release from the Mettur Reservoir for Kuruvai cultivation was delayed, and a majority of the farmers of the Cauvery Delta districts of Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Tiruchirappalli and the other lower riparian districts who have spent their entire savings, are now confronted with steeply declining groundwater levels across all the Delta districts, since the aquifers of the Delta are recharged only when the Cauvery and its distributaries flow in full. If water is not realised at Biligundlu now, the standing Kuruvai crop will wither before harvest, the ensuing Samba cultivation — the mainstay of the Delta — will equally be imperilled for want of both river flows and groundwater, and the fertile Cauvery Delta, the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu, faces the real and imminent danger of being reduced to a desert. Lakhs of farmers, including the deponent himself, and the agricultural labourers dependent upon them, whose sole means of livelihood is agriculture, would be permanently and irreversibly ruined. The damage being suffered
is continuing, escalating by the day, and wholly irreparable. The photographs capturing the imminent danger of being reduced to a desert and flow of water in Cauvery River are annexed herewith and collectively marked as ANNEXURE A-4. ( Pg. No.486-492)
12. It is submitted that this Hon’ble Court, in paragraph 446.7 of its Judgment dated 16.02.2018, has authoritatively declared that the waters of an inter-State river constitute a national asset and that no single State can claim exclusive ownership over such waters. The stand of the State of Karnataka — that it has already given enough water and will not release any further water, come what may — is in the teeth of the said declaration of law. A State cannot, on the one hand, invoke the distress-sharing principle and, on the other, refuse to share even the meagre quantum determined by the statutory authorities after fully accounting for the distress.
13. It is submitted that the Judgment of this Hon’ble Court, being a deemed decree under Section 6(2) of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, the only remedy available for its enforcement, upon the failure of the statutory machinery to secure compliance, is to approach this Hon’ble Court. The CWMA, despite having upheld the direction of the CWRC, has been unable to secure its implementation in the face of the open defiance of the State of Karnataka. The present application, which only seeks the enforcement of the Judgment of this Hon’ble Court and the binding directions of the statutory authorities, is therefore maintainable, and this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to entertain
the same in the larger interest of the lakhs of farmers of the Cauvery Delta.
14. It is submitted that the Applicant party expressly reserves its right to initiate appropriate contempt proceedings against the State of Karnataka and its responsible officers for the wilful disobedience of the Judgment of this Hon’ble Court dated 16.02.2018 and the directions issued thereunder, in the event of continued noncompliance.
15. The present application is filed bona fide, in the interest of justice, and in view of the extreme urgency of the matter, inasmuch as each day of non-release causes irreversible damage to the standing crops in the Cauvery Delta.
PRAYER
It is, therefore, most respectfully prayed that this Hon’ble Court may graciously be pleased to:
a) Direct the State of Karnataka / Respondent No. 1 to forthwith and fully implement the direction of the CWRC dated 28.07.2026, as affirmed by the CWMA on 30.07.2026, by ensuring a flow of 3,500 cusecs per day at Biligundlu for the period of 15 days commencing from date of the order passed by this Hon’ble Court, and to make good the shortfall in compliance from 29.07.2026 onwards;
b) Direct the State of Karnataka / Respondent No. 1 to make good the accumulated backlog of about 9.46 TMC due at Biligundlu as on 26.07.2026, computed on the pro-rata / distress-sharing basis,
by ensuring releases such that about 7,000 cusecs per day is realised at Biligundlu over a period of 15 days;
c) Direct the CWMA to monitor the releases from the reservoirs of the State of Karnataka and the flows realised at Biligundlu on a day-to-day basis and to report compliance to this Hon’ble Court;
d) Pass such further Order or Orders as this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case, and thus render justice.
AND FOR THIS ACT OF KINDNESS, THE APPLICANT AS IN DUTY BOUND SHALL EVER PRAY.
DRAWN BY:
RICHARDSON WILSON, ADVOCATE
LOKESH KRISHNA, ADVOCATE SETTLED BY:
P WILSON, SENIOR ADVOCATE
Filed by:
Place: New Delhi Date : 01.08.2026 ANURADHA ARPUTHAM
Advocate for the Applicant
