CMB can be formed only by Parliament act: BJP

With the NDA-led Central government facing flak in Tamil Nadu over its stand on constituting the Cauvery Management Board, the BJP today said such a board can come into force only by an act of Parliament and not an executive order of the Prime Minister or the Cabinet.

"The Cauvery Management Board (CMB) cannot be an executive order of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet or the Central government because the board can be constituted only by the Parliament because it requires legislation," BJP national secretary P Muralidhar Rao said.

Addressing reporters here, he said, "Even in earlier cases like the Bhakra Nangal and other management boards, they were done with the act of the Parliament because it is a federal constitutional structure and two states are coming (in the picture)."
 

"The Central government unilaterally constituting anything (management board) is not possible within this constitution unless there is a Parliament act," he said.

Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are locked in a bitter row over sharing of Cauvery river water, with the former approaching the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the upper riparian state to release water.

While asking Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu, the apex court had recently directed the Union government to constitute the CMB. But the Centre had later sought modification of the order, drawing widespread criticism in Tamil Nadu.