NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court, which has been hearing several pleas over safety concerns about the 126-year-old Mullaperiyar dam--a long-standing dispute between Tamil Nadu and Kerala-- will pronounce its order relating to the supervisory committee on Friday.
The Central government had suggested letting the current supervisory committee carry out operations, giving it powers under the Dams Safety Act, 2021, until the National Dam Safety Authority becomes functional. The Centre had said that the National Dam Safety Authority will take one full year to function properly. The top court, while agreeing to it, had indicated that a temporary working structure can be established.
During the course of the hearing, senior advocate Jaideep Gupta appearing for the state of Kerala had requested the court for the appointment of a new senior chairman for the committee or the chairman of the Central Water Commission should be given the duty to head this supervisory committee. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati appearing for the Commission sought time to respond to the suggestion. The court after reassembling during the latter half of the day was informed that the chairman would not be able to head this committee as he is already 21 committees and would not be able to dedicate full time to carry out duties for this committee.
After being informed of this, the state of Kerala raised a request for some other senior member to be made the chairman. This request was countered by the bench citing the fact that the new person would take time to understand the issues and will affect the decisions.
"You want a new set-up? We can give you the new set-up but would you take the responsibility of the local people coming to us for their safety and livelihood. Please understand that the new committee will not have a comprehensive approach as there is no past experience. the present setup is working well and disrupting it would not be right." The bench said.
Earlier during the day, senior advocate Shekhar Naphade appearing for the state of Tamil Nadu had alleged that Kerala is not letting it carry out works at the dam.
"We should be permitted to carry out the activity, strengthening of the dam would be the function of the supervisory committee. For example- we cannot reach because of no proper road...there has been obstruction by the state of Kerala. My apprehension ( Tamil Nadu) is that the whole attempt of Kerala is to drive us out of Kerala, every year they raise the issue of safety and the issue of floods. They are trying to get a backdoor entry to create a new dam," he had said.
Jaideep Gupta appearing for Kerala rebutted the same by saying, "I have a serious issue with this. Is this possible in independent India that Kerala is trying to drive out Tamil Nadu? Is it colonisation? What is he even submitting to my lords? We will have to also place the entire argument if he is arguing on this."
"In order to ensure that the decisions and recommendations being made by the Supervisory Committee are duly complied by the party States, the Chief Secretaries of the States may be made accountable." Centre has suggested to the top court.
"In order to address the technical concerns of both the states, the Chief Secretaries of the States may be requested to nominate technical experts as Members to participate in the meetings conducted by the Supervisory Committee. This would ensure accountability of the decisions/ action taken therein. Once the National Dam Safety Authority becomes fully functional, the functions of the Supervisory Committee will be taken over by the Authority under the aegis of the Act..." the centre had also said.