Chennai, March 10: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa Saturday declared she would resort to legal action if the central government does not set up the necessary mechanism to implement the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal's (CWDT) final award after gazetting it.
Speaking at a function organised by farmers organisations in Thanjavur, around 350 km from here, to felicitate her for securing the state's rights over Cauvery waters, Jayalalithaa declared that she would take legal action if the central government does not act.
The central government Feb 19 gazetted the CWDT's final award to comply with the Supreme Court's order in a case filed by the Tamil Nadu government.
The notification gives a legal seal to the Cauvery Tribunal's award. Under Sec 6 of Inter State River Water Disputes Act 1956, the central government has to notify the award of the tribunal in the official gazette.
The tribunal also prescribed that the central government should set up Cauvery Management Board/Authority to implement its final award given in 2007. The board would in turn set up Cauvery Water Regulation Committee.
Jaylalithaa said her policy is not to compromise the interests of the state and added that the state is forced to uphold its rights through courts.
Taking a dig at DMK president M.Karunanidhi, she said the latter had unwittingly accepted her role in securing the state's rights in one of his statements.
She said Karunanidhi had no role in the setting up of the tribunal as it was AIADMK's founder and late chief minister M.G.Ramachandran who wrote to the central government in late 1980s to set up the body.
Jayalalithaa said the tribunal gave its final award in 2007 and Karunanidhi who was the state chief minister then did not take any action to make the central government notify the measure in the official gazette.
