Mullaperiyar Dam Case : Supreme Court Asks Kerala & Tamil Nadu To Abide By Committee Decision On Water Level; Next Hearing On Nov 11

Asking the States of Kerala and Tamil Nadu to abide by the decision taken by the Supervisory Committee regarding the appropriate water level in the Mullaperiyar dam, the Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned the hearing in the case till November 11.

"It has been agreed that parties for the time being will abide by the water level suggested by the Supervisory committee. It will be open to the committee to review its decision on hourly basis", a bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar directed.

The adjournment was granted after the State of Kerala sought for time to file an affidavit raising its disputes regarding the rule curve criteria adopted by Tamil Nadu to reckon the water level.

Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for the State of Kerala, submitted that "it is not safe to have level as high as Tamil Nadu is proposing to which the committee has agreed". Yesterday, the Supervisory Committee had informed the Court that there was no requirement to change the water level, which was then at 137 feet.

"Please keep in mind, though monsoon is over in rest of the country in Kerala its beginning now. If the level is 142 already, then reservoir will not be able to take more and then gates will be opened. It will flow down stream.. down stream is Kerala and up stream is Tamil Nadu. The water will be discharged into the Periyar river which flows downstream Kerala to Arabian sea. I seek some time to respond to the report in a complete way so that rule curve is determined in some different way", Gupta submitted.

He prayed that a direction be issued to keep the upper water level at 139 feet till the next date of hearing. He pointed out that the Supreme Court had ordered in 2018 that during flood situation, the water level should not go beyond 139.

Senior Advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for the State of Tamil Nadu, submitted they have no difficulty to maintain the level till  at 139 feet till November10th but not beyond that.

"The whole attempt of Kerala every year is to see it goes below 142", Naphade submitted.

The bench said that it will not go into technical aspects.

Kerala Government today filed a statement before the Court objecting to the decision of the Supervisory Committee to not change the upper water level, and raising apprehensions about the safety of the masonry dam built 126 years ago using lime and surkhi. Kerala said that the logical step will be to decommission the dam and construct a new one.