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Top court seeks fresh safety review of Kerala’s Mullaperiyar dam
The Court ordered the committee to conduct a safety review and take all necessary steps for the safety of the dam and its nearby residents and present a report to the Court before May 11.
Concerns over the safety of the century-old Mullaperiyar dam in Kerala ahead of the approaching monsoon season in the state led the Supreme Court on Friday to take an extraordinary step to direct an expert committee managing the affairs of the dam to be clothed with statutory powers under the Dam Safety Act 2021.
The Court ordered the committee to conduct a safety review and take all necessary steps for the safety of the dam and its nearby residents and present a report to the Court before May 11.
The dam has been a subject matter of litigation between the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala over fixing the water level and need for repairs at the dam site. In 2014, the top court constituted a supervisory committee headed by a chief engineer of Central Water Commission (CWC) and comprising an official each from the two state governments.
Expanding this body by inducting a technical expert each from the two states and providing it powers as available to the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) under the 2021 Act, a three-judge bench headed by justice AM Khanwilkar said, “It may be in larger public interest to strengthen the Supervisory Committee, both in regard to its composition, as well as, scope of its functions to be brought in conformity with the provisions and powers of NDSA, as specified in the 2021 Act.”
The Court used its extraordinary powers under Article 142 and said, “Until the regular NDSA becomes functional, the Supervisory Committee, as reconstituted in terms of this order, shall be accountable for all matters relating to safety of the Dam… and discharge the functions of NDSA specified in Section 9 of the 2021 Act.”
The two states had consented to this interim arrangement as the Centre claimed that the setting up of NDSA would take some time. Concerned over the safety of dam following applications by local residents of the area who feared a deluge if the dam gave way, the bench also comprising justices AS Oka and CT Ravikumar said, “The reconstituted Supervisory Committee will decide all outstanding matters related to Mullaperiyar Dam’s safety and conduct a safety review afresh.”
The Court directed that the Chief Secretary of the concerned states shall be personally responsible to ensure that every direction given by the Supervisory Committee (including setting apart of necessary funds or providing logistical assistance) is carried out.
The Court granted two weeks for the states to name their technical member for the committee who should be “well-versed in dam management, reservoir operation, instrumentation, etc”. The Court allowed the Committee to hear the concerns of the local residents and permitted Tamil Nadu to invite the attention of the committee to the need for carrying out pending works at the dam site for which it required Kerala’s permission.
It was the Court’s suggestion to the two states to empower the supervisory committee till the Dam Safety Act dealing with safety of dams, in general, can address concerns of dam safety and dam failure-related disasters.
“For the purposes of surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of the dams such as Mullaperiyar Dam, which is the subject matter in these proceedings, the responsibility is fastened upon the NDSA established under Section 8 of the 2021 Act….until such time, the reconstituted Supervisory Committee would be in a position to discharge all the functions and also exercise all the powers which otherwise are required to be exercised by the NDSA for ensuring safety of the Mullaperiyar Dam, as also, prevention of dam failure related disasters,” the bench said.
On Thursday, Kerala demanded that the head of the supervisory committee should be Chairman of CWC as the other two members of the Committee were additional chief secretaries who were higher in rank and seniority to the present chairman who was chief engineer, CWC. The Court refused this proposal as it felt that the Committee has been functioning satisfactorily since 2014 and the chairman, due to his long association with the matter, was better equipped to handle the issues arising for consideration.
Senior advocates Jaideep Gupta and Shekhar Naphade for Kerala and Tamil Nadu respectively sought a time frame for the committee to give its report or findings. The Court directed the committee to submit a compliance-cum-status report within a month as it posted the matter next on May 11.
