Setback in Mullaperiyar case: SC rejects Kerala govt's review petition

The Supreme Court has rejected the Kerala government's petition seeking review of the apex court's May 7 verdict holding the 120-year-old Mullaperiyar dam safe and allowing Tamil Nadu to raise the water level in the dam to 142 feet.

A five-judge special bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu summarily rejected the plea of Kerala.

In the aftermath of the court ruling, with the Tamil Nadu government raising water level in the dam to 142 feet- for the first time since 1979 -- this created panic in Kerala's Idukki district as there had been leakages on several blocks of the dam, raising serious concerns over its safety.

Kerala argued the apex court by not sharing the investigations, test and studies relating to the dam's safety aspect had ignored the state's concerns on the violation of the fundamental Right to Equality given in the Article 14 of the Constitution

Without such information, the state government argued, it had no opportunity to counter the correctness of the Central Water Commission's studies on the possibilities and impact of maximum flood and the imminent threat to the dam from the rising water level.

The state government's petition stated, "the consequent effects on the life and property of the people of Kerala for providing an insignificant percentage of additional benefit to Tamil Nadu will be highly disastrous."

Kerala also challenged the validity of the 999-year lease agreement inked by the British government with the Maharaja of Travancore, in 1886, which made the then Madras Province a beneficiary of water from the dam.

Apart from the Chief Justice, the special bench, which considered the review petition comprised Justice Jasti Chelameswar, Madan Bhimrao Lokur, MY Eqbal and Chokkalingam Nagappan.

In its review petition, the state government stated Section 177 of the original contract by the erstwhile Madras state and the state of Travancore did not apply as neither the Federation of India was established as contemplated under Section 5 of the Indian Act of 1935 nor the Indian State (Princely State) of Travancore executed any accession under the provisions of the Act.

It said the error was due to erroneous assumption of the fact that the Federation of India was established and consequently, contracts of secretary of state were devolved on Madras province under the Section 177 of the 1935 Act.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice RM Lodha on May 7 had passed a judgement striking down a law promulgated by the Kerala Assembly declaring Mullaperiyar dam as endangered and fixing the water level at 136 feet. The apex court also pulled up the Kerala government for enacting a law, which overruled its verdict of 2006 declaring the dam as safe and allowed Tamil Nadu authorities to raise the water level.

Nod for feasibility study for new dam
Meanwhile, in another significant development, the Kerala government received the Union ministry of forest and environment (MoEF)'s nod for conducting a feasibility study for construction of a new dam on River Mullaperiyar. The preliminary study will be conducted within a 10-km radius of the project. The Kerala government had earlier informed the proposed new dam would not require much land.

A new dam on Mullaperiyar river has been a long-standing demand raised by Kerala. However,the state has not been able to make any progress in this regard owing to protests by Tamil Nadu, which argued the state would not be getting enough water if a new dam is built on the river.

The Union ministry also has cleared permission for laying of LPG pipeline from Kochi to Coimbatore.