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Rejecting the Centre’s stand that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to hear the Cauvery river dispute, the Supreme Court on Friday upheld its constitutional power to hear the appeals filed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala against the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal final award in 2007. A three-judge Bench Justice Dipak Misra said the court would resume hearing the case on December 15 at 3 p.m. Reading the operative part of the verdict, Justice Misra said the interim order to Karnataka to release 2000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu would continue till further orders. The Centre had argued that the parliamentary law of Inter-State Water Disputes Act of 1956 coupled with Article 262 (2) of the Indian Constitution excluded the Supreme Court from hearing or deciding any appeals against the Cauvery Tribunal's decision. It had claimed the tribunal award was final. “A person aggrieved can always have his remedy invoking the jurisdiction under Article 136 (appeal to the Supre...

The death of seven soldiers in the terrorist attack on an Army base in Nagrota provides graphic evidence of the high cost being borne by the armed forces amidst escalating violence in Jammu and Kashmir. The attack comes just two months after militants stormed an Army camp in Uri, resulting in the death of 19 soldiers. Early on Tuesday morning, three terrorists entered the camp in Nagrota, near Jammu city and not very far from the headquarters of 16 Corps, one of the largest and most important corps of the Indian Army. It is important to investigate how heavily armed terrorists reached the 166 Medium Regiment premises in a securitised area, despite several road blocks on the road to Nagrota. Wearing police uniforms, the terrorists reportedly scaled a wall and stormed the base, where many military families were staying. Seven soldiers, including two Majors, were killed as they fought to prevent a hostage situation. At least four unarmed officers, the wives of two officers and two childr...