Karnataka government fears contempt, Jagadish Shettar to rescue

Bengaluru: Worried over contempt of court proceedings for defying the Supreme Court order on release of water to Tamil Nadu, the state government shifted the responsibility of moving the resolution in the Assembly to Opposition leader Jagadish Shettar and JD(S) MLA Y.S.V. Datta,.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his cabinet collegues decided not to move the resolution from the treasury bench. As per usual practice, the government moves the resolution as prescribed by the rules and procedures of the Assembly , but breaking the precedent, the government requested Opposition leader Jagadish Shettar to move the resolution.

During the Business Advisory Committee meeting, held at the Speaker’s  Office, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Opposition Leader Jagadish Shettar and cabinet ministers discussed the pros and cons of the resolution. The CM said that if the government moved the resolution, it would directly invite contempt of court and if the opposition moved the resolution, the court may not be able to question it.

Ruling party members  cited a  precedent when then opposition leader D.B. Chandregowda moved a similar resolution in the House. Opposition leaders suggested that if not the Chief Minister, the law minister could move the resolution but the law minister expressed his inability to move the resolution.

Since it is an obligation on the part of the ruling party to comply with the order of the Apex Court, it cannot move the resolution not to release water to Tamil Nadu which would amount to contempt of court. Following the request made by the ruling party members , Mr. Shettar moved the resolution in English and Mr.Y.S.V.  Datta moved the same in Kannada.

HDK won’t sit quiet, takes subtle potshots at judges  
Defending the state’s refusal to release water to Tamil Nadu, former CM and JD(S) chief , H.D. Kumaraswamy on Friday said Karnataka had always done the right thing, but it had now been pushed too far. “How much more will the Constitutional bodies test our patience?'' he asked, speaking on the resolution to deny Tamil Nadu Cauvery water in the  Assembly.  Recalling that in 1991, Karnataka was forced to pass an ordinance, rejecting the interim order of the tribunal, he said when it sought an interim order in the Mahadayi case, the court refused to consider its plea.  But now it had no hesitation interfering in the Cauvery water dispute in response to Tamil Nadu’s petitions, he regretted. Questioning the constitution of the SC bench hearing the case, he said it had on board a judge  who was a former counsel for Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa. Mr Kumaraswamy argued that he should have recused himself from the case just like Justice Chalameshwar had when Karnataka filed an SLP before the Supreme Court challenging the Cauvery Water Tribunal's order as he had argued in the state’s favour before the Krishna tribunal.

Withdraw the cases against us: Activists
It is good that the government has taken a tough decision. Now it should focus on farmers who have suffered huge losses and help them out. We demand that the government release innocents, who have been arrested on charges of rioting and withdraw the  cases against them. — Vatal nagaraj, Kannada Okkoota chief

We welcome the resolution . Karnataka Rakshana Vedike will stand by the government on this issue. This is not a violation of the Supreme Court order, but a move that indicates that we are not in a position to release water to TN.  — Narayana Gowda, KRV president

It is good that   a resolution has been passed not to release water to TN. We demand that the government compensate farmers in the Cauvery basin who have lost over Rs 1,000 crores due to non-availability of water  — Praveen Shetty, President, KRV faction

We welcome the Chief Minister’s announcement agreeing to financially compensate farmers. We have been making this demand for weeks and it has been supported by other leaders too. We thank Mr Siddaramaiah for agreeing to our demand— Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Rajya Sabha MP

The decision of the Karnataka Assembly expressing its inability to comply with the order of the Supreme Court directing Karnataka to release 6000 cusecs of water should not be construed as a confrontation with the Apex court, for which we have the highest regard— M.B. Patil, Water Resources minister