Kerala obstructing Mullaperiyar dam maintenance: Tamil Nadu to Supreme Court

The State of Tamil Nadu (TN) has told the Supreme Court that the State of Kerala has been obstructing the maintenance and strengthening work ordered to be carried out on the Mullaperiyar Dam [Dr. Joe Joseph v State of Tamil Nadu and Ors]..According to an affidavit filed before the top court by TN, the Kerala government has been displaying "consistent obstructionism" on its part in the matter."The State of Kerala, inspite of directions in the Judgment of this Hon’ble Court ... has persistently continued its obstructionist attitude by not permitting the balance strengthening works and other works relating to the upkeep of the dam on one pretext or the other ... The State of Kerala has stated that the balance strengthening works, viz., strengthening the Baby dam and Earthern dam require Forest clearance and Wildlife clearance, which is denied. Thus, the State of Kerala has invented a new devise to obstruct in carrying out the above strengthening works," the affidavit said. Tamil Nadu has, thus, prayed for directions to the Kerala government and its instrumentalities to give necessary permission to Tamil Nadu to convey materials and machinery to the dam site and restore permission to cut 15 trees for strengthening the 'Baby Dam'..The affidavit was filed in a plea moved by the Kerala government that has contended that the 126-year-old dam is unsafe and should be decommissioned and a new dam constructed.The Supreme Court had in April 2022 ordered the reconstitution and strengthening of the supervisory committee that manages the dam.The Mullaperiyar dam was built by the British. While the dam and its catchment area are within Kerala, the water from its reservoir is used by Tamil Nadu and is the lifeline of five districts in TN.The supervisory committee was constituted as per Supreme Court's 2014 judgment in a dispute between Tamil Nadu and Kerala concerning the dam's safety.In its 2014 judgment, the Supreme Court had ruled in favour of Tamil Nadu and held that the dam is safe but the water level in the dam should be kept at 142 feet. It had then constituted the supervisory committee to manage the dam.Later during the Kerala floods of 2018, a petition came to be filed before the top court in which an interim order to maintain the water level at 139 feet during the Kerala floods was passed as a temporary arrangement.Tamil Nadu has all along maintained that the dam is safe, and sought directions for strengthening the existing dam..The present affidavit was filed through advocate D Kumanan and settled by Senior Advocates G Umapathy and V Krishnamurthy.