Mullaperiyar Dam: SC seeks supervisory committee's immediate decision on water level

The Supreme Court on Monday sought the response of the supervisory committee of the 150-year old Mullaperiyar dam on the immediate need to specify the water level, reports Live Law

A bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and CT Ravikumar was hearing two writ petitions filed by Kerala based parties seeking urgent directions to restrict the water level in the Mullaperiyar dam, which is being managed by the State of Tamil Nadu for drawing water to its districts.

Saying that "Life of 50 lakh people are in danger", Advocate Wills Mathew, appearing for one of the petitioners, submitted that because of heavy rains last week, the water level has gone up.

Advocate V Krishnamurthy, appearing for the State of Tamil Nadu, pointed out that as per the judgments delivered by the Supreme Court in 2006 and 2014, Tamil Nadu is entitled to keep the water level in the dam to 142 feet. He also told the bench that the water level at the dam as of today morning at 9 AM is 137.2 feet.

Advocate G Prakash, appearing for the State of Kerala, invited the attention of the bench to the order dated 24.08.2018 passed by the Supreme Court during the 2018 floods, fixing the water level as 139 feet during floods. He prayed that a similar order is to be passed considering the present situation.

Kerala also requested the bench to pass an order directing Tamil Nadu to maintain water level at 137 feet till the next posting date.

Saying that the issue of water level can be decided after getting the opinion of the supervisory committee, the bench posted the case to Wednesday(October 25), asking the Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to get instructions from the committee.

On Sunday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote a letter to his Tamil Nadu counterpart M.K. Stalin's drawing attention to the immediate need to send directions to the authorities concerned to draw a maximum quantity of water from Mullaperiyar dam through the tunnel to Vaigai Dam in the latter state.

In his letter, Vijayan requested Stalin to direct officials to gradually release this water downstream, and also intimate the Kerala government about the opening of the shutters 24 hours in advance to help them take precautionary measures for ensuring the safety of people living downstream in the state.

He said that with torrential rains hitting the state, there are possibilities of the reservoir level touching 142 feet. He said that this was the major reason for an urgent need for the gradual release of water from Mullaperiyar Dam through the tunnel to Tamil Nadu.