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Mullaperiyar dam: SC notice to Kerala for CISF deployment

The Supreme Court on Friday sought <g data-gr-id="26">response</g> from the government of south Indian state of Kerala on its neighbour Tamil Nadu's plea that <g data-gr-id="27">security</g> of Mullaperiyar dam <g data-gr-id="25">be</g> handed over to CISF.

A bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu <g data-gr-id="24">issue</g> notice on the plea which also sought that the Kerala government be not allowed to seek environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for constructing a new dam.

Tamil Nadu, in one of the applications, has sought a direction from the court that Kerala be restrained from conducting the environment impact assessment for its new proposed dam at the site. 

The counsel for the Tamil Nadu government told the bench, also comprising Justices Amitava Roy and Arun Mishra, that as per the previous judgement in the case, any new dam can only be constructed at the site with consent of both of the states. The Tamil Nadu government had on February 20 moved the apex court seeking deployment of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) for <g data-gr-id="30">protection</g> of Mullaperiyar dam in Kerala.

The security of the dam is <g data-gr-id="29">presently</g> with the Kerala government. The Kerala government had also moved an application seeking clarification of the May 5, <g data-gr-id="28">2014</g> judgement by which the apex court had allowed the raising the water storage level of the dam to 142 feet.

However, the application was withdrawn by the state later saying it would go before three-member Mullaperiyar committee. The bench had accepted this request for withdrawal of the application in which Kerala had contended that the water storage should not be increased to 142 feet until all the 13 spillover gates of the dam are operational.
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