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The Supreme Court on Thursday said that the order on the Supervisory Committee will be pronounced tomorrow while hearing matter raising the Mullaperiyar dam safety issue. The bench while referring to the argument made by the Kerala Government objecting to the temporary committee arrangement being proposed by the Central Government said that "A half-baked cake will destroy the Dam".

A bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice CT Ravikumar said that "Today an immediate direction is required for the safety of the dam. It is a request to both the States, let the water flow safely."

The bench was hearing 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

Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta appearing for Kerala suggests the appointment of a new Chairperson and a technical member from each State. To which the bench asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to seek instructions by 2:00 PM.

The bench after hearing the Kerala Government and Tamil Nadu objecting to the functioning of the Committee said that the Court intends to strengthen the Committee and the Committee will have all the powers under the 2021 Act, let there be some problems, then we'll look into it. "You are anticipating everything," Justice Khanwilkar added.

ASG Bhati after seeking instructions from the Government informed the bench that the Chairperson cannot be changed stating that "A temporary structure may be adopted and Member Disaster Resilience may be added as a member and the Current members from Kerala and Tamil Nadu are chief secretary-level officers."

To which, Gupta objected stating that then a person of the same rank would be required for the post of Chairperson. In addition to this, Gupta further argued that a time limit may be set for this temporary arrangement.

However, The bench refused to accept the contention stating that "let this be a temporary arrangement and then a permanent arrangement may be made."

"The new committee will take some time to acclimatize with the issue. We cannot have experiments like this," the bench added.

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

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.