Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Wednesday (August 12, 2026) observed that the Cauvery water dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka has been allocated to the Bench presided over by his colleague and next-in-line to be top judge as per the seniority norm, Justice Vikram Nath, who is down with viral fever.

The Chief Justice, heading a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, said Justice Nath would not be presiding over his Bench this week.

The case was initially expected to be listed on August 13 to hear a plea filed by the State of Tamil Nadu seeking a judicial direction to Karnataka to implement a Central Water Management Authority (CWMA) decision of July 30 to ensure the release of 3500 cusecs for 15 days from its two reservoirs at Kabini and Krishna Raja Sagara. Tamil Nadu has approached the Supreme Court for the release of 4.536 TMC (at the rate of 3500 cusecs for 15 days) on or before August 12.

Karnataka bandh: What will remain open? Which services will be affected?

However, on August 12, the Chief Justice said the case would now be posted on August 17 due to the unavailability of Justice Nath.

The oral observations from the CJI came during an oral mentioning made by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), represented by senior advocate P. Wilson, of a separate application filed by Tamil Nadu’s Opposition party in the Cauvery for the release of water essential to protect the water-starved agricultural lands in the State’s lower riparian districts.

The party had said this could be ensured by releasing about 7,000 cusecs of the river water on a per-day basis at Biligundlu for over a period of 15 days. It had asked the court to direct the CWMA to monitor the releases and to file a compliance report.

The application had submitted that despite the binding directions of the CWRC and CWMA, the State of Karnataka had “neither released the water nor evinced the slightest intention of doing so”.

“About 14.913 lakh acres (net area) in the Cauvery delta are dependent on the Mettur reservoir for irrigation, which in turn depends upon the flows realised at Biligundlu from the releases made by Karnataka from its reservoirs. About four million farmers and about 10 million agricultural labourers directly and indirectly depend on Mettur water for their very livelihood,” the application had said.

The party had submitted that farmers of the lower riparian districts of Tamil Nadu like Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Tiruchirappalli and other delta districts, were the worst affected by the non-release of water.

“The Kuruvai crop already raised is withering for want of water,” the application had said.