A five-member Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would not pass any order on the Mullaperiyar dam dispute between Kerala and Tamil Nadu, as the key issues were to be examined by the empowered committee already set up by the court.
The committee has to decide the safety issue and is in the final stages of preparing its report, the SC bench headed by D K Jain said. The court would go by its recommendations, the bench added.
Both state governments, therefore, withdrew their applications. Kerala wanted the water level in the century-old dam to be reduced to 120 ft, pointing to recent earthquakes and heavy rain. However, the court was not willing to pass such an order and reiterated the limit should remain 136 ft.
Tamil Nadu said the maximum capacity of the dam was 152 ft. It alleged Kerala was creating unnecessary apprehension about the dam’s safety. Its plea to stop Kerala from allegedly stoking passions was also withdrawn after the judges’ observations.
The judges told the Tamil Nadu counsel it was “unfair” to publish advertisements quoting their observations at the previous hearing. There was no order from the court, but what the judges remarked were made part of the advertisement.
The judges took strong exception to the conduct of the state government. The bench also rejected the prayer of Tamil Nadu to stop Kerala from issuing press statements on the issue.
The central government was asked to clarify its position on the Tamil Nadu plea for deployment of Central Industrial Security Force to protect the dam from vandalism. The court will hear the Centre on Thursday. During the hearing, the judges criticised the attitude of both the governments. "Both the parties, instead of dousing the fire, are adding fuel to it. There has to be sanity and sensitiveness," the bench observed.
