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Supreme Court rejects plea to decommission Periyar dam

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed at the admission stage a writ petition filed by Jan Sakthi, a non-governmental organisation, represented by Kerala MLA, K.J. Alphons, a retired IAS officer, for a direction to decommission the Mullaperiyar dam as it is posing danger to the lives of 35 lakh people in five districts.

A three-Judge Bench comprising Justice Arijit Pasayat, Justice C.K. Thakker and Justice D.K. Jain rejected the MLA’s plea.

It posted for hearing in the third week of July a suit filed by Tamil Nadu for declaring unlawful the Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2006 insofar as it applied to the Mullaperiyar dam, and interim stay of its operation.

The Bench granted four weeks to Kerala and Tamil Nadu to file additional documents and six weeks thereafter to file evidence through affidavit.

When the matter was taken up on Tuesday, Justice Pasayat asked Mr. Alphons how the writ petition was maintainable when the States were agitating before the court. Mr. Alphons submitted that the dam was more than 100 years old and had outlived its life. He said the dam was now dangerous and “if it gives way, it would be a disaster for 35 lakh people in five districts.” He said Tamil Nadu was paying only 18 paise per unit to Kerala for the electricity produced.

Justice Pasayat told the petitioner “all your concerns will be taken care of in the suit” and dismissed the petition.

In the suit the court had already framed 11 issues for adjudication. Through 34 documents, Kerala had expressed its stand for construction of a new dam.

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