Mullaperiyar dam dispute: Supreme Court says some people creating hype that Kerala will be devastated

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that certain persons have created a hype that any act by Tamil Nadu in relation to the Mullaperiyar dam could have devastating effects in Kerala..A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh made the observation while hearing a plea filed by Tamil Nadu government alleging that permission to undertake certain activities in the dam's vicinity including cutting trees, was revoked by the Kerala government. "Some have created hype that if something is done in Tamil Nadu, then Kerala will be devastated," the Court remarked.The Court eventually directed the new supervisory committee constituted in January this year to examine the prayers made by the Tamil Nadu government and take a decision."The committee shall find out a solution preferably which may be acceptable on both sides," the order said.In case there is any dispute with respect to any of the issues, the supervisory committee shall submitted a report to this court in order to resolve the left out issues, the Court added. "Chairman shall convene a meeting of both States to address the issues and action shall be taken two weeks thereafter and a report shall be submitted to this court in the 4th week from today," the Court said.Pertinently, the Court also directed that matters relating to the Mullaperiyar dispute be heard by a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court."Some matters are required to be placed before three-judge bench. Thus in interest of justice, all matters shall be clubbed and be placed before the CJI for appropriate orders for listing before a three judge bench," the Court said..The Mullaperiyar dam, which was built by the British, has been a source of friction between Tamil Nadu (TN) and Kerala.While the dam and its catchment area are within Kerala, the water from its reservoir is used by Tamil Nadu and is the lifeline of five districts in TN.In a 2014 judgment, the Supreme Court had ruled in favour of Tamil Nadu and held that the dam is safe but the water level in the dam's reservoir should be kept at 142 feet. It had then constituted a supervisory committee to manage the dam.Tamil Nadu has all along maintained that the dam is safe and has also sought directions for strengthening the existing dam.Later during the Kerala floods of 2018, a petition came to be filed before the top court in which an interim order to maintain the water level at 139 feet during the Kerala floods was passed as a temporary arrangement.The Kerala government has contended throughout that the dam is unsafe and should be decommissioned..When the matter was heard today, Senior Advocate Shekhar Nahpade, appearing for Tamil Nadu, said that Kerala was obstructing the implementation of the judgment."We are on the narrow issue of execution of decree. Permission to cut 15 trees was granted and then suddenly revoked. The exact motive of Kerala is that the dam which is there be demolished," Naphade said."The dam is now 25 years older. They are avoiding the review which has to happen every 5 years and they are avoiding that," Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta said on behalf of State of Kerala."State of Kerala should realise that there is a constitutional value of cooperative federalism," Nahpade said..[Read Live Coverage]