NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked Kerala and Tamil Nadu to abide by the decision taken by the Supervisory Committee to maintain the level of water in the Mullaiperiyar dam at 139.5 feet till November 10.
“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 while slating the hearing for November 11.
The adjournment was granted after Kerala sought 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 Kerala government, submitted that it is not safe to have the level as high as Tamil Nadu is proposing to, and to which the committee has agreed. On Wednesday, 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 that though the monsoon is over in rest of the country, it is beginning now in Kerala. If the level is 142 already, then the reservoir will not be able to take more, and the gates will be opened,” Gupta submitted. He prayed that a direction be issued to keep the upper water level at 139 feet till the next date of hearing.Gupta also pointed out that the SC had ordered in 2018 that, during flood situation, the water level should not go beyond 139 ft.
Senior Advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for the State of Tamil Nadu, submitted they have no difficulty to maintain the level at 139 feet till November 10 but not beyond that. Meanwhile, Kerala government 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 the logical step will be to decommission the dam and construct a new one.
“The Mullaiperiyar Dam is a 126-year-old composite gravity dam situated at an altitude of 2890 feet above MSL on the Western Ghats. The hearting of the dam, which accounts for more than 60% of the volume of the dam, was constructed with lime-surkhi concrete. Quite understandably, seismic forces were not considered in its design. Presently, the dam is in deteriorating condition due to its age. There would be an exponential increase in the water pressure and uplift pressure acting on the dam when the water level is raised from 136 ft to 142 ft. (i.e. from 859.167 to 936.648 tonnes per meter length of the dam),” the note said.