New Delhi: A safety committee for Mullaperiyar Dam has been formed as per the Dam Safety Act, the Central Government informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The Regional Director of the National Dam Safety Authority heads the four-member committee.

It has been formed under the category of specified dam since the Mullaperiyar Dam, which is operated and maintained by Tamil Nadu, is located in Kerala. With this, the apex court's temporary monitoring committee may cease to exist. A bench presided over by Justice M R Shah directed the Centre to file an affidavit that contains other details regarding the State Dam Safety Committee. The court will again take up the case for consideration in August.

The top court is hearing several pleas over safety concerns about the 126-year-old Mullaperiyar dam, which has been the subject of a longstanding dispute between the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Mullaperiyar dam was built in 1895 on the Periyar river in Kerala's Idukki district.

In January, the top court asked the two states to approach the supervisory committee for matters relating to the release of water or water management at the dam. The court had said that everyday management issues should not come before the court but should be taken up by the committee.

The Kerala government had earlier told the apex court that "no amount of rejuvenation" can perpetuate the dam, and there is a limit to the number of years one can keep dams in service through maintenance and strengthening measures. It had said the only permanent solution for removing the "eternal threat owing to the safety concerns" of the dam and for protecting the safety of a large number of people living downstream of Mullaperiyar Dam is to build a new dam in the downstream reaches of the existing dam. The Kerala government had urged the court that the proposal to fix the upper rule level of the Mullaperiyar dam at 142 feet, as formulated by Tamil Nadu, may be avoided. 

In its response to the affidavit filed by Kerala, the state of Tamil Nadu said that "repeated assertions" of Kerala and petitioners from there in the pleas filed from time to time seek the decommissioning of the existing dam and the construction of a new dam, which is "wholly impermissible" in light of the apex court verdict on the safety of the dam. "The dam has been found to be hydrologically, structurally, and seismically safe," Tamil Nadu had said.