The bench the asked the Karnataka government, “Why are you not releasing?”
Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Karnataka, replied that the picture being projected before it was “extremely incorrect in every material respect”.
“This is an extremely severe distress year and when you have an extremely severe distress year as in the present case, there is a mechanism and a machinery for the purposes of balancing,” he said.
As far as the Cauvery basin is concerned, Divan said, there is enormous deficit and the CWMA is alive to the situation and has issued directions.
According to the first direction, Karnataka was required to ensure release of 3,500 cusecs of water for 15 days till August 11, he said.
Divan also referred to the subsequent direction to release 12,000 cusecs of water daily for 15 days from August 12, and placed the data before the bench.
He said releasing 12,000 cusecs was very difficult for Karnataka, but instructions have been issued to ensure that this level is maintained.
Divan said the flow was low during the first three-four days but Karnataka will make it up in next few days.
The Tamil Nadu government had earlier said the state was not getting its due share of Cauvery water in a rain deficient year.
The Joseph Vijay led-state government on August 3 approached the apex court seeking directions to the Karnataka government for immediate release of the water.