The Supreme Court proposed on Tuesday that the supervisory committee on the Mullaperiyar dam could be authorised with all the duties falling under the purview of the newly introduced Dam Safety Act, until a new authority comes into force based on the law. The apex court issued the directive after the central government told that it would take one more year to set up a new Dam Safety Authority.
The top court made the proposal in a plea filed by Kothamangalam native Joe Joseph seeking the court’s intervention to empower the supervisory panel further. The Kerala government had also made a similar request which Tamil Nadu opposed. The central government has backed the decision of the Supreme Court on the matter. The court also agreed in principle to the government’s demand to include technical experts in the committee. Kerala and Tamil Nadu will nominate a member each to the committee.
Earlier, the central government requested the Supreme Court that the Mullaperiyar Dam issue be handed over to the National Dam Safety Authority, a body constituted under the Dam Safety Act. However, it would take almost a year for the newly formed Authority to be fully functional. In the wake of this, the central government requested the Supreme Court to temporarily hand over the powers of Authority to the supervisory committee.
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Earlier, Kerala and Tamil Nadu termed the supervisory committee as a body with no power. With this, the committee will be able to decide on matters such as dam safety, security, maintenance and others. Further, the state government is bound to obey the directives issued by the committee regarding the dam.
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