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Krishna tenders unconditional apology to Supreme Court

Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna on Monday tendered an 'unconditional apology' to the Supreme Court saying his government 'erred' by not implementing its order for release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.

Posting the matter of contempt petitions filed by Tamil Nadu against the chief minister and his government for November one, a bench comprising Chief Justice B N Kirpal, Justice Y A Sabharwal and Justice Arijit Pasayat said it is keeping the apology tendered by Krishna on record.

Karnataka told the court that it has started releasing 10,000 cusecs of water daily from Monday.

The bench, however, said the Karnataka chief minister's affidavit did not contain any information about the quantity of water released from the reservoir.

It asked the Union government to find out the quantity of water received at Mettur dam in Tamil Nadu and tell the court about it on November one.

The court on that day will consider acceptance of the apology as well as steps taken by Karnataka to implement the court's order.

At the beginning of the hearing, Karnataka counsel Anil Diwan read out the affidavit of Krishna tendering unconditional apology and requested the court to drop contempt proceedings against the chief minister.

The bench said, "We are only interested in seeing implementation of the court's order. It gives us no pleasure to punish anybody. What caused us great anguish is that the state of Karnataka, foremost in development, showed scant respect to the Supreme Court's order. It is disgraceful."

When Diwan said Karnataka had erred, the bench said, "Curiously enough you have a fight with all your neighbours -- Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh -- with regard to water. You do not have the spirit of sharing. You want to keep everything to yourself. That is selfishness."

When Diwan referred to release of 10,000 cusecs of water starting from Monday, the bench said "Your generosity will be measured by your attitude at the time of scarcity."

The bench, however, said, "We are happy to know a constitutional crisis has blown over. Karnataka has dutifully said we are implementing the court's order."

Tamil Nadu counsel K K Venugopal contended that Karnataka's release of water should not be construed as obeying the court's order in totality. In response, the bench said, "It is not that the past sins of Karnataka have been washed away. It is only that they have mended their way so as to request us to take a lenient view."

"We have not yet accepted the apology. It is only on record. Let's see how things work out. Let's see whether your farmers get water and also those in Pondicherry," the bench said.

Cauvery Water Dispute: The Complete Coverage

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