The Supreme Court on Monday gave two more months, till April 30, to the Empowered Committee headed by former Chief Justice of India A.S. Anand to submit its report on the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam.
A five-judge Constitution Bench of Justices D.K. Jain, R.M. Lodha, Deepak Verma, C.K. Prasad and Anil R. Dave passed this order on a request from the committee seeking time till April 30 for submitting its final report to the court.
The present term of the committee ends on February 29. The court appointed the committee in 2010 on a suit filed by Tamil Nadu challenging a law passed by Kerala to prevent it from raising the water level in the dam above 136 ft as permitted by the Supreme Court.
Pointing out that the committee, in its report, had referred to the lack of cooperation being extended by Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Justice Jain asked counsel for both States to cooperate and allow the committee to complete its work.
While seeking two months' time, the panel submitted a status report, explaining the work so far done.
It sought time taking into consideration the fact that the report on the analysis being done by the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune, on the drilling work done by it on samples from seven of the nine drilling works was yet to be received.
The committee has entrusted the task of conducting various studies in the dam, including marine and naval diving tests, to reputed institutes. Except the drilling report all other reports have been received.
