Mullaperiyar Case: Tamil Nadu Lawyer Moves Supreme Court Seeking Central Security Protection For Dam

An advocate based in Tamil Nadu has moved the Supreme Court of India seeking directions to the Union of India to deploy any of the Central Security Force at the Mullaperiyar dam for its protection immediately.

An application for impleadment has been filed by Stalin Baskaran in the writ petition filed by Kerala based petitioners(Dr. Joe Joseph and others versus Union of India) seeking directions to ensure the safety of the 126 year old Mullaperiyar dam.

The applicant has argued that there is an urgent need to deploy any of the Central Security Force at the Mullaperiyar dam for its protection.

It has been argued that with the support of Kerala government, all Kerala parties and personal interested social activists may demolish the Mullaperiyar Dam any time which provides solace to lakhs of people in Tamil Nadu.

The applicant has submitted that having identified trouble-prone spots, the Kerala Government has not stationed policemen to prevent any untoward incident, sufficient police force has not been deployed in Mullaperiyar dam and Kerala State has not taken any precaution measures to protect the Mullaperiyar dam.

According to the applicant, instead of dealing with the Mullaperiyar dam controversy as a geo-political conflict, it should be tackled as an institutional, legal and administrative failure in the region. Equitable distribution of the benefits of the shared resource is not an impossible task to achieve.

The application filed through Advocate Narender Kumar Verna has argued that the Kerala government, political parties and personal interest social activists are spreading panic among the public about the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam which is not true.

According to the applicant, none of the national or international level studies and expert reports say that increasing water level is threat to the dam. They have only said that the dam will not be able to withstand an earthquake of the magnitude of six on the Richter scale, and with such an earthquake even cities like Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai are also are not safe.

The applicant has also pointed out that the the Bhakra Nangal, one of the highest and important dam is also guarded by more than 450 CISF personnel to thwart possible terror threat or sabotage attempt.

The Supreme Court had on 22nd November agreed to hear the Mullaperiyar dam case expeditiously for final settlement of all the points of dispute and posted the matter to December 10.

A bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and CT Ravikumar stated that the hearing of the case on December 10 will be subject to the completion of hearing in two other on-going part-heard matters.

The Kerala Government had filed an affidavit disputing the rule curve adopted by the Supervisory Committee at the suggestion of Tamil Nadu. Kerala also stated that the long term solution to the problem was the decommissioning of the existing dam to construct a new dam.

The State of Tamil Nadu filed a counter-affidavit, refuting the arguments of Kerala. It asserted that the dam has been found to be "hydrologically, structurally and seismically safe" by the Supreme Court and that it has been repeatedly strengthened under the supervision of the Committee.

(Cases : Dr.Joe Joseph and others versus State of Tamil Nadu and others(WP(c) No.880 of 2020),).