Mullaperyiar Dam Case : Supreme Court Rejects Kerala's Plea To Change Suprevisory Committee Head

In the Mullaperiyar dam case, the Supreme Court on Thursday turned down a plea made by the State of Kearla to replace the present Chairman of the Supervisory Committee, which was constituted by the Supreme Court in 2014 to monitor the safety arrangemnets of the 126-year old dam.A bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, Abhay S Oka and CT Ravikumar was against changing the composition of the present Committee. The bench said that it will equip the present Committee with the powers under the recently enacted Dam Safety Act 2021 and will permit the Comittee to continue as a working arrangment till the National Dam Safety Authority comes into operation. Orders in that regard will be passed tomorrow morning.Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for Kerala, suggested that the Chairman of the Central Water Commission be made the head of the Supervisory Committeee. However, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, on instructions from the Department, submitted that it will not be feasible for the CWC Chairman to head the Supervisory Committee as he is already heading 21 other panels. Gupta said that the present Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Gulshan Raj, Chief Engineer of the Dam Safety Organization, was lower in rank to the Additional Chief Secretaries of Kerala and Tamil Nadu who are members of the Committee. Hence, he sought for a person who is more senior in rank as the Chairman. The bench pointed out that this arrangment had been in existence since 2014 and added that disrupting the Committee could be counter-productive."We will not disturb the present Supervisory Committee, and we will permit one representative each from Kerala and Tamil nadu..", Justice Khanwilkar said.The bench added that if a new person comes, it will be difficult for him to acclimatize with the situation, and hence it will be better that the persons who have been handling the matter in the past conitnue."If a new person comes, it will be difficult, there will be gaps in the decision...new committee will take time to acclimatize with the sitaution...Please understand, that new committee will not have comprehensive approach as there's no past experience...it will be prejudicial if the committee is destabilized.. the present arrangemnet is working well, and you want to disrupt it based on preceptions?", Justice Khanwilkar observed.The bench cautioned against making any "experiments" with the arrangement and warned that a "half-baked cake will destroy the dam"."Until new committee comes up which is made up by the Centre, till then let the present set up continue. Don't disturb the present committee based on perceptions", Justice Khanwilkar said.The Bench was hearing a batch of petitions filed by Kerala-based parties seeking measures to ensure the safety of the century old dam.The Supreme Court on Tuesday(April 5) had asked the Centre and the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala to consider a "working arrangement" where the court-appointed Supervisory Committee may be entrusted with the functions and duties of the National Dam Safety Authority under the Dam Safety Act, 2021.'The whole attempt of Kerala is to drive us out of Kerala'- Tamil Nadu; 'In independent India, Tamil Nadu is scared of being driven out of Kerala. Is this a permanent colonisation of Kerala by Tamil Nadu?'- KeralaDuring the hearing in the pre-lunch session, there were few exchanges between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Senior Advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for Tamil Nadu, alleged that Kerala was obstructing the TN officials from carrying out the works related to the Dam. "The whole attempt of Kerala is to drive us out of Kerala", Naphade submitted. "Every year, the issue is raised- this issue of flood, safety has been examined as recently as January 2022 by the supervisory committee, and in categorical terms, it says that the dam is safe", Naphade added.Gupta countered this allegation by saying, "Can your lordships imagine the submission in independent India that Tamil Nadu is scared of being driven out of Kerala. Is this a permanent colonisation of Kerala by Tamil Nadu?".The Bench said that it is focusing now only on the safety of the Dam and was not going into other contentious issues. Naphade submitted that Tamil Nadu should be permitted to carry out certain things which the 2006 and 2014 judgments have permitted in relation to the dam. "Our only concern is that the 2006 and 2014 judgments have permitted us to carry out certain things, the empowered committee has empowered us to do certain things, the supervisory committee has asked us to do certain things which we are not able to do. We are obstructed. I can show from the second report of the supervisory committee of January 2022 how we have been obstructed. We should be permitted to carry out all this", the Tamil Nadu's counsel said.Justice Khanwilkar: "Under the 2021 Act, are you entitled to carry out all those activities? If you are entitled to, the supervisory committee will permit you. The primary...

Mullaperyiar Dam Case : Supreme Court Rejects Kerala's Plea To Change Suprevisory Committee Head

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