Kerala Justified SC about law for water level of the Mullaperiyar dam

31 July 2013
New Delhi

Kerala on Tuesday justified in the Supreme Court the law enacted by it to prevent Tamil Nadu from raising the water level of the Mullaperiyar dam from 136 ft. to 142 ft.

Senior counsel Harish Salve, appearing for Kerala made this assertion before a five-Judge Constitution Bench comprising Justices R.M. Lodha, H.L. Dattu, C.K. Prasad, Madan B. Lokur and M.Y. Eqbal hearing the suit filed by Tamil Nadu challenging the Kerala’s law.

Tamil Nadu’s stand is that its rights under the original 1886 agreement had crystallised into a decree of the Supreme Court in 2006 and Kerala was not entitled to take away the fruits of the decree by adopting the legislation, which was ultra vires the Constitution. It termed untenable Kerala’s contention that Tamil Nadu had no right to store the water and that Periyar was an intra-State river.

Mr. Salve said “By enacting the Amendment Act of 2006 and fixing the storage level of Mullaperiyar Dam at 136ft, Kerala Legislature has not overruled the judgment of this Court but removed the basis of the said judgment by curtailing the legal right to store water above 136 ft which flows from the 1886 agreement. Is that law bad or would mean usurpation of judicial power.” Counsel maintained that a contractual right could be taken away by a statute.

Source– http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/kerala-justifies-law-fixing-water-level-at-136-feet/article4971055.ece

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