TN seeks right to claim damages from neighbouring State for polluting Cauvery and Pennaiyar rivers with untreated sewage and effluents

The Tamil Nadu government on Friday moved the Supreme Court, accusing the State of Karnataka for dumping untreated sewage and industrial effluents in the Cauvery and Pennaiyar rivers, considered life-giving water sources for Tamil Nadu.

In a suit for permanent and mandatory injunction, the Tamil Nadu government blamed Karnataka for “gross dereliction of duty as a welfare State under the Constitution” by denying the people of Tamil Nadu the right to access clean water.

Its inaction has become a threat to lives and crops in Tamil Nadu, the government's suit, filed by advocate B. Balaji and re-settled by State Advocate General A.L. Somayaji, contended. The State has sought the right to claim damages from Karnataka for discharging polluted water into Tamil Nadu.

The State government has made the Union also a party in the suit, saying it failed in its legal and constitutional duty to ensure that Karnataka complied with its social obligation and responsibility to comply with the prescribed standards before letting effluents into rivers.

The Tamil Nadu government said no attempt was made by Karnataka to set up effluent treatment plants, reverse osmosis systems or drainage facilities to purify the polluted water discharged into the rivers.

The State government sought the apex court to issue permanent injunction to restrain Karnataka from letting untreated effluents into the rivers.

It further asked the apex court to issue a mandatory injunction to Karnataka cleanse the waters of Cauvery and Pennaiyar rivers before they enter the Tamil Nadu border.

The suit wants Karnataka to ensure that the water is pollution-free by adopting effective cleansing and treatment technology methods to remove the sludge at the point where the effluents are discharged into the Cauvery and Pennaiyar rivers.

‘Bengaluru is the source’

Pinpointing the rapidly industrialising and highly populated Bengaluru as a major source of water pollution, Tamil Nadu said Karnataka's capital city was growing at an astronomical rate and the projected population would be more than one crore by 2020, leaving the rivers even dirtier.

“It cannot be gainsaid that the city of Bengaluru is the nerve centre of the Information Technology industry. As part of the development of the city, a large number of industries have come into existence in and around the Bengaluru city area. But the first defendant (Karnataka) has totally abdicated its responsibilities and duties as a responsible State and is irresponsibly discharging sewage and drainage water into Cauvery river and Pennaiyar river,” the suit said. The suit quotes Karnataka's own Minor Irrigation Minister as saying that around 889 million litres of sewage water enters Tamil Nadu through the Pinakini and South Pennar river courses and the remaining sewage water flows to Cauvery through the Arkavathi river on a daily basis into Tamil Nadu.