DMK deputy general secretary M. Duraimurugan has termed incredulous Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s statement that cases pertaining to the Mullaperiyar dam row were transferred to the Supreme Court from the Madras and Kerala High Courts in 2002 during the AIADMK rule.
In a statement here, Mr. Duraimurugan, a former PWD Minister, said the petition for transfer of all cases — pertaining to the raising of the dam level beyond 136 feet — was filed on December 14, 1998, by the Tamil Nadu government. “Who was in power in 1998? Ms. Jayalalithaa or our leader Kalaignar Karunanidhi,” he asked, referring to Ms. Jayalalithaa’s criticism of the DMK at a meeting in Madurai on Friday. The meeting was organised by the Cumbum Valley farmers to felicitate her for helping to secure justice to the State.
While Tamil Nadu farmers filed a petition in the Madras High Court in favour of raising the level to 152 feet, their Kerala counterparts filed a petition in the Kerala High Court against any such move. Subramanian Swamy, now in the BJP, also filed a petition backing Tamil Nadu’s stand. The Mullaperiyar Environment Protection Forum objected to it. “The DMK government filed a petition for placing all these petitions before the Supreme Court, which allowed Tamil Nadu to raise the level to 142 feet on February 27, 2006,” he said.
Panel’s report
Mr. Duraimurugan said the DMK president’s consistent efforts helped the State get justice, and it was he who nominated Justice A.R. Lakshmanan as the State’s representative to the empowered committee, headed by the former Chief Justice of India, A.S. Anand. “The committee’s report put at rest the controversy over raising the level.”
He said the AIADMK government just filed a petition against the ordinance promulgated by Kerala to amend the Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation Act, 2003. The ordinance was meant to nullify the Supreme Court’s 2006 order. But the AIADMK government did not even bother to get the petition numbered,” he said.
