CM, senior counsel to decide on Cauvery stand

An all-party meeting in Karnataka has authorised chief minister N Dharam Singh to decide the state's final stand to be taken before the Supreme Court on the issue of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, in consultation with the senior counsel in New Delhi.

The meeting chaired by the chief minister and attended by MPs, legal experts, irrigation department advisors and senior leaders of different parties, took a unanimous decision in this regard, state water resources minister M Mallikarjuna Kharge told reporters.

On September 10, a special leave petition filed by the Bangalore-based 'Gandhi Sahitya Sangha' challenging a series of orders of July 6 and August 3, issued by two tribunal members directing inspection of the Cauvery basin areas, would come up for hearing before the apex court.

The petitioner also stated that the 'unseemly manner' in which the two members had treated the tribunal chairman had "deprived the tribunal of all credibility of stature".