[Mullaperiyar Dam] Supreme Court orders reconstitution of Supervisory Committee

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the reconstitution and strengthening of the supervisory committee which manages the Mullaperiyar Dam in Kerala [Dr. Joe Joseph v. State of Tamil Nadu and Ors.]. .A Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Abhay S Oka and CT Ravikumar ordered that two technical experts who are well-versed with the instrumentation and dam safety shall be appointed as a part of the committee within two weeks. One technical member must be from Tamil Nadu and other must be from Kerala, the Court directed. ."For the purpose of strengthening the existing supervisory committee, we also accede to the suggestions given by the party-States that two technical experts be made part of the existing supervisory committee, one each from the State of Kerala and State of Tamil Nadu, who must be well-versed in dam management, reservoir operation, instrumentation, etc.", the top court held..Further, the Chief Secretaries of Tamil Nadu and Kerala shall be responsible and must make suggestions to advisory committee for the safety of the Dam. The 126-year-old 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.The Kerala government in its present plea (which has been filed as an application in a 2020 writ petition by one Dr. Joe Joseph on dam safety) has contended that the 126-year-old dam is unsafe and should be decommissioned and a new dam constructed.Tamil Nadu has all along maintained that the dam is safe and has also sought directions for strengthening the existing dam. .The top court in its order on Friday directed the Central government to constitute the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) under the Dam Safety Act 2021 as soon as possible, since the supervisory committee formed by the Supreme Court is only an "interim arrangement" for prevention of any further disasters.."We express a sanguine hope that the competent authority may take appropriate steps to ensure that the regular NDSA under the 2021 Act is established at the earliest, as it cannot brook delay," the top court added..The Court held that same powers are given to the supervisory committee as given to the NDSA under the Dam Safety Act. The power to enforce all the directions of the supervisory committee is also given to it. ."At the same time, it may be in larger public interests to strengthen the Supervisory Committee, both in regard to its composition, as well as, scope of its functions to be brought in conformity with the provisions and powers of NDSA, as specified in the 2021 Act," the Bench said. .The apex court further ordered the supervisory committee to file a compliance report by May 11. The committee shall hear public grievances from the locals regarding the safety of the dam and address their issues in a time-bound manner, the Court added..[Read Order].[Reportage from yesterday's hearing before the Supreme Court]