Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT)
Origin of the Underlying Allocation
The CWDT was constituted in 1990 under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 to adjudicate the long-standing Cauvery water-sharing dispute among Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry. After 16 years of proceedings, it delivered its final award on 5 February 2007, fixing a monthly water-release schedule for Karnataka at the Biligundlu gauge station — the inter-state measurement point on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border.
- CWDT's 2007 award allocated the water estimated at 740 TMC ft in the Cauvery basin as: Tamil Nadu 419 TMC, Karnataka 270 TMC, Kerala 30 TMC, and Puducherry 7 TMC.
- The Supreme Court's judgment of February 2018, in an appeal against the CWDT award, modified the allocation to Tamil Nadu 404.25 TMC and Karnataka 284.75 TMC (an additional 14.75 TMC to Karnataka, expressly for Bengaluru's drinking-water needs), while Kerala's and Puducherry's shares were retained.
- The Court held that a river is a national asset and no basin state has proprietary ownership over its waters, while directing the Centre to set up the CWMA and CWRC to operationalise the modified award.
● Tracked since June 19, 2026 · last seen July 30, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes
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