BENGALURU: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed Tamil Nadu’s petition seeking to stay the construction of a dam across Pennaiyar river in Kolar district by the Karnataka government. Justice UU Lalit delivered the verdict after hearing the arguments from both sides.
The Tamil Nadu government had approached the Supreme Court after Karnataka started constructing a 50-metre high dam across Markandey, a tributary of Pennaiyar river, in Kolar district.
In the petition, Tamil Nadu stated that it is illegal to construct the dam across the river without the permission of the lower riparian state. However, in its reply, Karnataka said that it is well within its rights to construct a dam for drinking water purposes and does not need permission from any other state.
Tamil Nadu had objected to construction of a reservoir with 500 mcft storage capacity.