Justice B S Chauhan appointed as the Chairman of CWDT

Justice BS Chauhan, the Judge of the Supreme Court of India on 14 May 2014 was appointed as the Chairman of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT). Justice Chauhan will succeed Justice NP Singh.

Justice Chauhan, who is due to retire on 1 July 2014, was appointed as the Chairman of the Tribunal on the recommendation of the former Chief Justice of India, Justice P Sathasivam.

The post of Chairman of the Tribunal was lying vacant since April 2012, when Justice NP Singh resigned from the tribunal on health grounds. Due to this, the Tribunal was not successful to take clarification petitions filed by all parties to the Cauvery dispute against Tribunal’s final award that was delivered in 5 February 2007.

Final Award of 2007
The tribunal headed by Justice NP Singh gave its final award on Cauvery River Dispute on 5 February 2007. According to the Final Award, the CWDT recommended 419 tmcft for Tamil Nadu (against the demand for 562 tmcft); 270 tmcft for Karnataka (demanded 465 tmcft); 30 tmcft for Kerala; and 7 tmcft for Puducherry. The actual release of water by Karnataka to Tamil Nadu will be 192 tmcft a year. From it, Tamil Nadu will release 7 tmcft to Puducherry.

However, Tamil Nadu government filed an application seeking certain clarification and directions on the award. This was done under Section (3) of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.

Earlier on 25 June 1991, CWDT gave an interim award. As per the interim award Karnataka was to release 205 tmcft each year to Tamil Nadu. Of this quantum, Tamil Nadu was to release 6 tmcft to Puducherry.

About the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT)
The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) was constituted by the Government of India on 2 June 1990. It was constituted with an aim to give its ruling on the water dispute regarding inter-state river Cauvery and the river valley thereof.

The Tribunal was constituted under the chairmanship Justice N.P. Singh. The members were N.S. Rao and Sudhir Narain.