Tamil Nadu has decided to move the Supreme Court, seeking a stay of the Central government’s reported decision to accord clearance to Kerala for survey and investigation for the construction of a new dam on Mullaperiyar.
Announcing this in a statement, M. Karunanidhi, Chief Minister, said that according to information the State government got on Monday, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests was said to have given its nod for the survey, without seeking the views of Tamil Nadu.
Recalling that the construction of a new dam had been a dispute between Tamil Nadu and Kerala for long, the Chief Minister said this matter was pending before the Supreme Court.
When reports were published in the press that the Union Environment and Forests Ministry had accorded the clearance, he wrote a letter to Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of State (independent charge) on September 22 that the Tamil Nadu government had filed a suit in the Court on the Mullaperiyar dam issue and the case was scheduled for arguments on October 20. The issue was sub judice, Mr. Karunanidhi said, quoting from the letter.
He had also requested the Union Minister to consult the Tamil Nadu government before any such permission was given to the Kerala government.
A senior official said that no reply had come from the Union Minister. The information that the government obtained was that the Ministry had cleared the minutes of the meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife, in which the decision was said to have been taken.
