NEW DELHI/BENGALURU/ CHENNAI: The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to interfere with the order of Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) and Regulatory Committee (CWRC) to release 5,000 cusecs of water per day to Tamil Nadu, following which protests erupted in Karnataka.

While Karnataka sought parley and Centre’s intervention, Tamil Nadu ruled out scope for talks. Ahead of the court ruling, citing a drought-like situation, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his Deputy DK Shivakumar conveyed to the Centre that it is not in a position to release water and sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai, PS Narasimha and Prashant Kumar Mishra noted that bodies like CWMA and Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC), which have experts from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), and those on agriculture and water resource management, have considered all relevant aspects like drought, deficit rainfall, water level in the river and only then passed the order.

“We are therefore of the considered view that the factors which have been taken into consideration by both the authorities cannot be said to be irrelevant or extraneous. In that view, we are not inclined to interfere with the orders,” the bench said.

Following the Supreme Court ruling incensed farmers’ organisations and pro-Kannada outfits staged protests in various parts of the State. A Karnataka outfit demanded that the state government defy the order on water release.

Mysuru, Mandya, Bengaluru and Chamarajanagara witnessed protests. The protesting farmers tried to block the highway in Chamarajanagara.

In the national capital, Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Water Resources Minister, told reporters that despite challenges, the State is still releasing about 4,000 cusecs to Tamil Nadu.

With the top court refusing to interfere, protests broke out in various parts of the Cauvery river basin districts of Karnataka, as the State will now have to comply with the CWMA orders and release 5,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for another 15 days.

Following the SC decision, the TN government ruled out any parleys as sought by Karnataka, with state Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan indicating that TN will not compromise on its due share of Cauvery water.

“There’s no scope for talks on the Cauvery issue, as parleys over the years did not yield any results,” Duraimurugan told reporters.

Now, the Apex Court’s verdict on the subject is final and should hold good, the minister asserted.