Union Shipping Minister G K Vasan has made a strong plea to the Centre to notify the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal's award in the gazette as stipulated by the Supreme Court.

The plea was made by Vasan when he met Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar yesterday and insisted that the need of the hour was to see the merit of the case and the Apex Court has also impressed upon the government to notify the award in a specific time.

Observing that Tamil Nadu was on the merit side of the case, he said "people of Tamil Nadu, especially farmers of the Delta region are awaiting notification of the award".

He said he has also spoken to Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat.

The apex court on February 4 had pulled up the Centre for "flouting the law" for the last five years and set February 20 deadline to notify the award, saying it has no discretion or choice but to do so.

The Court had said government is bound by the Act under which the Tribunal was set up in 1990 and directed it to notify the award as expeditiously as possible but not later than February 20.