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Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta arguing before the Supreme Court on Wednesday, in the matter raising Mullaperiyar dam safety issue, submitted that in the long run, process for the construction of a new dam has to start considering the issue surrounding Mullaperiyar dam’s safety.

A bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice CT Ravikumar said that the main issues include the height of water level and storage level, release of water, modernization of instrumentation and reconstitution of an independent supervisory committee for looking into these issues.

The submissions have been made in a writ petition highlighting the inaction of the Supervisory Committee appointed by the Supreme Court for taking care of material and safety aspects of Mullaperiyar Dam and urging the proper monitoring of the dam.

Gupta submitted before the bench that the nature of the dispute in this matter is dam safety, "Kerala is before Your Lordships arguing that the dam is not safe, safety depends on the height of the water. More volume of water is pressing against the dam, there is less space to hold the water."

"The expert committee constituted by the Central Government had suggested raising the water level in the reservoir which raises the dispute," Gupta added.

Arguing over the issue of instrumentation, Gupta submitted that this dam doesn't have seismicity technology at all that is to determine the temperature. "The Instrumentation is inadequate and what is there is not functioning," Gupta argued.

Over the issue of rule curve, Gupta argued that in every dam, there is one peak in a year, but in Mullaperiyar there are two peaks in a year and that is not acceptable in a rule curve. This is the only dam which has 2 peaks, this allows Tamil Nadu to store more water, this dam is being subjected to maximum pressure twice a year.

State of Kerala do not want to takeaway water from Tamil Nadu, the State has taken water demand into account even after ensuring safety of the dam their water demand will be met, Gupta added.

The bench will continue hearing the matter on March 24, 2022.

The Kerala State Government in its reply in the Mullaperiyar dam safety issue filed on March 21, 2022, has sought a fresh review of Mullaperiyar dam by an Independent panel of experts comprising qualified Engineers and experts in the respective fields including design, geology, hydrology, hydro- Mechanical dam safety, construction and supervision, instrumentation, seismicity, adding that it should be conducted.

It has further sought direction: 

- Comprehensive Dam safety Review Procedures should be carried out in accordance with the Guidelines for Safety Inspection of Dams, January 2018.

- The terms of reference of the study and l details of the agencies for conducting the tests should be shared to the party States and approved by the Supervisory Committee.

-All tests and investigations should be conducted to check the hydrological, seismic and structural safety of the dam. The Committee should ensure that the study should be conducted with the participation of the officers of Kerala. 

-The test study reports and their findings should be shared. with Kerala and finalized by the Supervisory Committee. It should be ensured that the study should be completed within a time-frame.

Earlier, The state of Kerala in its written submission submitted before the Supreme Court that the state of Kerala is only concerned with protecting and keeping safe the life and properties of the people in downstream reaches of the river basin of the river Periyar as it flows down the Western Ghats and meets the sea north of Cochin.

Case Title: Dr Joe Joseph & Ors. V. State of Tamil Nadu & Ors.