Mullaperiyar Dam : Supreme Court Seeks Union Govt's Response On Constitution Of National Committee Under Dam Safety Act

On being apprised that a National Committee on Dam Safety contemplated under the Dam Safety Act, 2021 has not been constituted till date, the Supreme Court today called for the Union of India's response to a petition involving the issue of structural safety of the Mullaperiyar Dam (situated in Kerala but operated by Tamil Nadu).

A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and Ujjal Bhuyan passed the order in a writ petition filed by Advocate Mathews J Nedupmara. The Court sought the assistancece of the Attorney General for India. The Court's order stated :

"During the hearing, the provisions of the Dam Safety Act, 2021 have been referred to. We find that in terms of Section [...] read with Section 5 of the Act, a National Committee on Dam Safety consisting of the members as prescribed in Section 5(1) was required to be constituted within a period of 60 days from the date of commencement of the Act and such committee is further required to be re-constituted for every 3 years thereafter. We are informed that no such National Committee has been constituted so far. Even the rules/regulations regarding the constitution, composition or functions of the said National Committee have not been formulated.

On the other hand, Shri Krishnamurthy, ld. senior counsel for State of Tamil Nadu, has referred to an office memorandum (OM) dt. 21 November 2024 issued by Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India, whereunder in supersession of the previous supervisory committee, a new supervisory committee under the Chairmanship of Chairman, National Dam Safety Authority has been constituted. The terms of reference of the Committee are contained in para 7 of the OM. It further appears that there is no provision in the Dam Safety Act prescribing the constitution of a Supervisory Committee. It further appears that a Supervisory Committee was constituted by this Court in an earlier round of litigation with respect to the Mullaperiyar Dam and the Union of India has also conceptualized the constitution of Supervisory Committee, maybe in terms of the judgment of this Court.

In this view of the matter, let notice be issued to the Union of India. A copy of the petition be handed over in the office of Attorney General of India. The ld. AG is requested to assist the Court on the next date of hearing, especially with reference to the constitution of the National Committee and giving effect to other provisions of the Dam Safety Act. The AG shall also have instructions from respondent No.2 namely the National Dam Safety Authority with regard to the responsibility entrusted to that authority [under the Act]."

The order further underlined that the directions contained in paras 17 and 18 of the Court's judgment dt. 8 April, 2022 in Dr. Joe Joseph and Ors. v. State of Tamil Nadu and Ors. appeared to be awaiting compliance. With these observations and directions, the matter was posted to January 22.

To recap, the Mullaperiyar issue is before the Supreme Court since a long period of time. Initially, the matter reached the Court by way of a Writ Petition (Mullaperiyar Environmental Protection Forum v. Union of India & Ors) which was decided by a three-judge Bench comprising of then Chief Justice YK Sabharwal, Justices CK Thakker and PK Balasubramanyan. This writ petition was dismissed, with permission for the water level of the Mullaperiyar dam to be raised to 142 ft. and further strengthening of the dam.

After this judgment, which was delivered on 27.02.2006, Kerala amended the 'Kerala Irrigation and Water (Conservation) Act' and Mullaperiyar dam was designated as a Scheduled dam, treating it as endangered dam, and the water level was restricted to 136 ft. This was followed by Tamil Nadu filing an Original Suit before the Supreme Court against the provisions of the amended Act in its application to Mullaperiyar.

In 2011, a Constitution Bench of the Court constituted an Empowered Committee, which gave a Report that as per the the tests, investigations and studies conducted by it, the Old Mullaperiyar Dam was hydrologically, seismically and structurally safe for holding water up to 142 ft.

Ultimately, in 2014, the Constitution Bench held that Kerala cannot obstruct Tamil Nadu from increasing the water level of Mullaperiyar dam to 142 ft. and from carrying out repair works as per judgment dated 27.02.2006. Vide this judgment, the Court also constituted a 3-member Supervisory Committee to supervise the restoration of FRL in the Mullaperiyar dam to the elevation of 142 ft.

In 2018, the Court directed that the Full Reservoir Level (FRL) in the Mullaperiyar dam be reduced by 2-3 feet below the 142 feet mark, as allowed in its 2014 judgment, and be maintained thus till August 31.

In April, 2022, the Court directed in a separate case pertaining to the Mullaperiyar Dam that the Supervisory Committee constituted in 2014 to monitor the safety arrangements of the dam should continue its operations till the National Dam Safety Authority under the Dam Safety Act 2021 comes into effect.

Case Title: MATHEWS J. NEDUMPARA AND ORS. v. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., Diary No.37275/2024