NEW DELHI: A five-judge Constitution Bench on Monday fixed January 19 to start hearing the arguments on the Mullaiperiyar dispute between Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The Constitution Bench comprising Justice D K Jain, Justice B Sudershan Reddy, Justice Mukundakam Sharma, Justice R M Lodha and Justice Deepak Verma briefly heard senior counsel K Parasaran appearing for Tamil Nadu and senior counsel Harish Salve for Kerala before fixing the date.
It was on November 10 that a three-judge Bench had referred the dispute between Tamil Nadu and Kerala over Mullaiperiyar dam to a five-judge Constitution Bench.
On that day, Kerala told a Bench comprising Justice D K Jain, Justice Mukundakam Sharma and Justice R M Lodha that the judgment passed by the apex court in the year 2006 was without jurisdiction. It went on to say that any dispute between the two States on any constitutional question has to be decided by the Supreme Court under Article 131 only.
But, the judgment rendered in 2006 was on an Article 32 petition, viz., a writ petition. Hence, it was not legal and therefore without jurisdiction, Kerala had contended.
After consulting counsel for Tamil Nadu, the Bench had referred the new argument put forward by Kerala, to a Constitution Bench.
Today, the Constitution Bench headed by Justice Jain requested the counsel of both the States to summarise the arguments because it had already gone for a long time before the three-judge Bench.
Justice Lodha humorously remarked that the judges had been punished by hearing and hearing on Mullaiperiyar.
Parasaran told the Bench that the two counsel can appear in an appeal case. He also said that “We’ll take at least nine working days (for arguments).
Salve also said that he also needed that many days.