Bengaluru (DHNS) Supervisory committee likely to go by final award of water tribunal. The Cauvery Supervisory Committee headed by the Union Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar, will meet here on Monday, to decide on the quantum of Cauvery water to be released to Tamil Nadu from Karnataka.

The committee is expected to go by the final order of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) while deciding on the quantum of the river's water to be released from the upper riparian state to lower riparian state as directed by the Supreme Court, a senior official in the ministry said.

Karnataka Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav, Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary P Ramamohana Rao and officials from the Kerala and Puducherry, besides officials of the Central Water Commission will attend the meeting of the committee.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had directed Tamil Nadu to approach the Supervisory Committee, set up to implement award of CWDT, for the release of Cauvery water as per the final award of the tribunal.

It is yet to be seen whether the Supervisory Committee, while deciding the release of quantum of water from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu, will go by the apex court's earlier direction or wait for the court’s verdict on the fresh petition filed by Karnataka, which is expected to come up for hearing on Monday.

Tamil Nadu, in its letter written to the Cauvery Supervisory Committee on September 7, has also sought a direction to Karnataka to release 64.75 tmcft of water. Tamil Nadu also said that from June to September 5, Karnataka released only 35.91 tmcft of water against the tribunal’s order to release 100.67 tmcft. Countering Tamil Nadu claim, Karnataka, in its reply to the panel, said the farmers under four reservoirs in Karnataka require about 40 tmcft of water by the end of October but the storage as of now was only 39 tmcft.

Due to low storage of water in reservoirs owing to shortfall of monsoon, if any more water is released to Tamil Nadu, drinking water needs are likely to be "jeopardised” in many cities including Bengaluru and Mysuru, Karnataka said. The state drew the attention of the panel to the fact that Tamil Nadu has advantage of getting water from northeast monsoon which is expected to hit the state next month.

Separately, Karnataka Water Resources Minister M B Patil and Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav, who have been camping here, held a series of meeting with officials from state water resources department to prepare for Monday’s meeting. The team of advocates representing Karnataka in water dispute issues also attended the meeting. The minister also held a meeting with senior counsel Fali S Nariman, who is heading the Karnataka legal team.