Kerala Government today said it would explore legal options to "overcome" the Supreme Court order rejecting the state's review petition seeking to reconsider the order that allowed Tamil Nadu to rise the water level at Mullaperiar at 142 feet.
Reacting to the apex court's dismissal of the state government's plea today to review its May 7 verdict holding as safe the 120-year-old Mullaperiyar dam and allowing Tamil Nadu to raise water level to 142 feet and ultimately to 152 feet after completion of strengthening measures on the dam, Chandy told reporters that the government would consult with legal experts on what to do on the matter.
However, Chandy expressed relief over the Environment Department's sanction to Kerala to conduct a study on the possibility of constructing a new dam at Mullaperiyar.
The five-judge Constitution Bench headed by then Chief Justice R M Lodha had on May 7 passed a verdict striking down a law promulgated by the Kerala government declaring Mullaperiyar dam as endangered and fixing the water level at 136 feet.
Kerala had filed a review petition against the verdict.
"Application for hearing in open court is rejected. We have gone through the review petition and the connected papers. We see no reason to interfere with the order impugned. The review petition is, accordingly, dismissed," said a five- judge bench comprising Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justices J Chelameswar, M B Lokur, M Y Eqbal and C Nagappan today.
