New Delhi: The Supreme Court will deliver its verdict on Monday on the controversial issue of asking the Kerala Government to raise the water level in the Mullaiperiyar dam to 142 ft from 136 ft.

A three-Judge Bench comprising Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Justice C.K. Thakker and Justice P.K. Balasubramanyan had reserved the judgment in November last after hearing the Centre, the Tamil Nadu Government, the Kerala Government and others.

While Janata Party President, Subramanian Swami and the Tamil Nadu Government had in their petitions pleaded for raising the water level to 142 ft, Kerala had opposed it.

At the instance of the apex court the Centre had appointed an expert committee, which in its report recommended raising the water level initially to 142 ft. The committee, after taking into consideration the stability of the dam, stress and strength analysis and every other aspect, had refuted the apprehensions of the Kerala Government about the safety of the dam if the water level was raised.

The Centre accepted the report and informed the court.

It was the contention of the Tamil Nadu Government that the committee had suggested strengthening measures but engineers from Tamil Nadu were prevented from carrying out repairs.

It said that since 2001, Tamil Nadu was deprived of the benefit of raising the water level and the estimated loss of power generation was 171 million units.

Kerala's stand had also prevented Tamil Nadu from irrigating thousands of acres.

However, Kerala had maintained that the expert committee's report was unreliable, not scientific and inaccurate and the State's views were not properly considered.

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