The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to notify the six-year-old final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal by the 20th of this month. A bench headed by Justice RM Lodha expressed displeasure over the government not notifying the award even after warring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had agreed before it on January 4 that they had no objection if the award was notified. The Centre had earlier assured the apex court that it would notify the tribunal’s award by December 31.

The apex court also directed Karnataka to release 2 Thousand Million Cubic feet, TMC of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu and asked the Central Water Commission to file report on the water requirement of the two states. It asked the Commission to form a three-member expert body which will visit the states and directed it to file report within two days. The court posted the matter for further hearing on Thursday. The court was hearing Tamil Nadu's petition seeking immediate release of 12 TMC of water.