Bengaluru: : Legal experts on Thursday advised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah that the state should convince the Supreme Court that it is not in a position to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu any further after September 20.

Siddaramaiah had convened a closed-door meeting of legal experts including former judges and advocates general in Bengaluru to discuss the Cauvery water sharing issue with Tamil Nadu.

Official sources privy to the meeting stated that the general opinion was that Karnataka should convince both the Supreme Court and Supervisory Committee with facts and figures about the severe distress situation in the Cauvery basin.

The state should make a strong case that it was not in a position to release water to Tamil Nadu after September 20.

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the state to release 12,000 cusecs of Cauvery water every day to Tamil Nadu till September 20, modifying its previous order that directed it to release 15,000 cusecs till September 16. The Supervisory Committee is meeting in New Delhi on September 19.

Another general advice was that the state should continue to press for the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a long-term solution to the Cauvery dispute.

Former advocate general B V Acharya said the state cannot be hauled up for contempt of court if existing circumstances made it impossible to release water to Tamil Nadu. “When we do not have sufficient water for drinking purposes, how can we release water for irrigation to Tamil Nadu? It will not be wilful disobedience of the court order. If you are storing two buckets of water for your drinking water needs for the next one week, is it not impractical if you are asked to provide one bucket of water to your neighbour for his garden?” he said.

Law Minister T B Jayachandra said the advice given by the legal luminaries will be considered by the government.

Former judges Rajendra Babu, Rama Jois, P Vishwanath Shetty, N Kumar and A J Sadashiva were present.

We should convince the Supreme Court that inter-state sharing of water is a technical matter and it cannot pass any orders relating to the same. The Cauvery Supervisory Committee should be allowed to independently deal with the issue
– Former advocate general B V Acharya

The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal Award is entirely statistical. We should convince the Supreme Court that the distress situation in the river basin should be factored in before passing any orders on water sharing”.
– Former advocate general Ashok Haranahalli

The schedule of water release stipulated is essentially for a normal year and not for a distress year. This point should be insisted upon
– Former advocate general Ravi Varma Kumar