Mullaperiyar Dam Case : Supreme Court Mulls Empowering Supervisory Committee To Pass Orders For Safety; Asks Kerala & Tamil Nadu To Discuss [Hearing Day-2]

The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned the Mullaperiyar dam matter to Tuesday, orally asking Senior Advocates Shekhar Naphade and Jaideep Gupta, for Tamil Nadu and Kerala respectively, to prepare the minutes of order for an arrangement where the Court-appointed Supervisory Committee can itself be empowered to pass directions to either state to carry out the necessary works within a specified timeline and, upon failure to implement the same, the Committee may itself execute the works from the funds at its disposal.Also, the bench orally observed that the Court may, in its order, make Chief Secretaries of both states accountable for implementation of the directions of the Committee, failing which they may be held in contempt of court. The bench asked Mr. Naphade and Mr. Gupta to prepare the minutes of the order at their personal level, though they may seek instructions from their clients. The bench orally remarked that the minutes may be modified or improved in the hearing on Tuesday and passed as an order of the Court, to be binding on the parties.A bench comprising Justice AM Khanwilkar, Abhay S Oka and CT Ravikumar was hearing a batch of petitions filed by Kerala-based parties seeking measures for the safety of the 126-year old Mullaperiyar dam.Court-room exchange as it transpired on Thursday-Justice A. M. Khanwilkar to Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, for the state of Kerala: "The factors which weighed with the experts and were taken into account for reaching the conclusion that there is no safety problem at all at this stage- that report has been referred to and reproduced here in the judgment which found favour with the court. If there is some more new technical aspect to be looked into which has not been dealt with, have you identified that aspect specifically in your pleadings so that we can deal with that also? Because in 16 years, we can understand some technical aspects may be there which ought to have been taken into account and which were not taken into account then?"Mr. Gupta: "I am not saying 142 feet is not the level to which it has to go"Justice Khanwilkar: "We are on safety and not level. Naturally, level will lead to safety. If the level needs to be brought down because this structure has become slightly weak, then this level will have to be brought down. But if the structure is remaining the same, unless you have pointed out aspects in your pleadings due to which 142 should be brought down...one aspect may be because the structure by itself is not able to withstand that pressure- Some technical report or expert opinion on that? Then we may have to have an independent opinion with regard to that aspect..."Mr. Gupta: "We are saying seepage measurements (by Tamil Nadu) are not correct. The water coming from the old part of the dam to the new part of the dam is getting blocked because the drainage hole is blocked. Seepage factor has changed over the years"Justice Khanwilkar: "One approach is that you are not questioning what was done then but you are saying there are new techniques available which were not available then to measure the safety of the dam, and that the relook has to be done in respect of those techniques. The second is that the structure itself is weakening. These are additional aspects to be looked into by the expert committee and the supervisory committee has not looked into it. Is this your pleading?"Mr. Gupta: "Yes. The supervisory committee never went into this issue at all. It is our submission that for the purpose of the future, seepage aspect is very important, things have happened, it it has not been covered by the previous rounds of litigation.There is a tension between both the parties. They (Tamil Nadu) say this you did not allow us to do. But what they were in a position to do has also not been done. They did not require anything from us to correct the instrumentation and put new instrumentation in place. But they have not done this. Even as per the Central Water Commission guidelines, the situation has to be reassessed in every 10 years- so from 2012 to 2022 now it has to be done"Justice Khanwilkar: "Is it possible for us to say that the supervisory committee will also have the wherewithal to carry out any activity needed and not leaving it to them? The supervisory committee and the joint committee can do it?Mr. Gupta: "We will welcome it"Justice Khanwilkar: "So these issues which are being raised by this side or that side will be put to rest. The committee will itself provide the technical persons and ensure the needful is make available and where it has to be supplemented, you can also do that. Some mechanism on those lines- is it possible or not? Because this is not a one-day affair. This has to be maintained permanently and erennially so long as the dam exists, this dam or the other dam. This is affecting the two states. So that both sides' interest is secured and both sides' obligations are taken care of and nobody can blame each other. The committee can be...

Mullaperiyar Dam Case : Supreme Court Mulls Empowering Supervisory Committee To Pass Orders For Safety; Asks Kerala & Tamil Nadu To Discuss [Hearing Day-2]

Mehal Jain

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