Centre asks Kerala to nominate new expert for Mullaperiyar dam safety panel

The Union government has asked the Kerala government to submit a fresh nomination for its representative to the Independent Panel of Experts (IPOE) carrying ...

What Happened

The Union government has asked the Kerala government to submit a fresh nomination for its representative to the Independent Panel of Experts (IPOE) carrying out a Comprehensive Dam Safety Review of the Mullaperiyar dam.
Kerala's earlier nominee, T.K. Sivarajan (former Chief Engineer and member, Central Water Commission), was removed from the five-member Comprehensive Dam Safety Evaluation Committee (CDSEC) — a move Kerala has strongly protested.
The dam, built in 1895 and now over 130 years old, is operated by Tamil Nadu under a 999-year lease signed in 1886, while it sits entirely within Kerala's territory on the Periyar river.
The review is being conducted under the Dam Safety Act, 2021, which mandates Comprehensive Dam Safety Evaluations (CDSE) for specified dams, with a Central Water Commission (CWC)-constituted panel.
The dispute sits within a long-running, multi-decade interstate conflict between Kerala and Tamil Nadu over the dam's water level, structural safety, and the possibility of constructing a new dam.

Static Topic Bridges

Dam Safety Act, 2021 — India's First Dedicated Dam Safety Law

Before 2021, India had no standalone legislation governing dam safety despite being home to over 6,600 large dams (the third-largest inventory in the world). The Dam Safety Act, 2021 was notified in the Gazette of India on December 14, 2021 and came into force on December 30, 2021 — India's first dedicated statute for surveillance, inspection, operation, and maintenance of specified dams.

"Specified dams" are those with a height of more than 15 metres, or height between 10–15 metres with certain structural or design conditions.

National Committee on Dam Safety (NCDS): Policy body; recommends regulations and safety standards.
National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA): Regulatory and implementation body; headed by an officer not below Additional Secretary rank; resolves interstate dam safety disputes.
State Committee on Dam Safety (SCDS) and State Dam Safety Organisation (SDSO): Responsible at the state level for surveillance, inspection, and maintenance.
For dams spanning two or more states or owned by a Central PSU, NDSA (not state bodies) exercises SDSO jurisdiction — directly relevant to Mullaperiyar, which sits in Kerala but is operated by Tamil Nadu.
Every dam owner must complete: (i) a detailed risk assessment, (ii) an Emergency Action Plan (EAP), and (iii) a Comprehensive Dam Safety Evaluation (CDSE) — all by December 2026.

Connection to this news: The CDSEC panel constituted by CWC is the operational instrument for the mandatory CDSE under the Dam Safety Act, 2021. Kerala's protest over the removal of its nominee is, in effect, a dispute over the composition and independence of this critical safety review body.

The Mullaperiyar Dam Dispute: History and Key Facts

The Mullaperiyar dam was constructed between 1887 and 1895 by the British on the Periyar river, on land belonging to the then-Princely State of Travancore (now part of Kerala), to divert water eastwards to the drought-prone Madurai and Dindigul districts of what is now Tamil Nadu.

The 1886 lease agreement — a 999-year lease signed by the Maharaja of Travancore with the British Secretary of State for India — granted irrigation and water-use rights to the British (and subsequently to Madras/Tamil Nadu) in exchange for an annual rent of Rs 40,000. This lease is now the subject of renewed legal scrutiny.

The dam is a masonry gravity dam, 53.6 metres (176 feet) tall; the disputed question is how high water can be stored.
Tamil Nadu wants to raise the Full Reservoir Level (FRL) from 136 feet to 142 feet; Kerala opposes this on safety and seismic grounds.
In 2006, the Supreme Court (in a suit between Tamil Nadu and Kerala) ruled that Tamil Nadu could raise the water level to 142 feet. Kerala challenged this and passed the Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2006, declaring Mullaperiyar a "threatened dam" and capping storage at 136 feet — a law the Supreme Court struck down in 2006.
In 2014, a five-judge Supreme Court Constitution Bench ruled that the dam is structurally safe and Tamil Nadu can raise the water level to 142 feet.
A Supreme Court-constituted Supervisory Committee monitors the dam.
The Supreme Court has also agreed to re-examine the validity of the 1886 lease deed.

Connection to this news: The current episode — the Centre asking Kerala to nominate a new expert for the safety panel — reflects the institutionalisation of dam safety review under the 2021 Act, while the underlying interstate tensions over water level and dam safety remain unresolved.

Interstate Water Disputes in India: Constitutional and Legal Framework

Water is a state subject under Entry 17 of the State List (List II) of the Seventh Schedule — but Parliament can by law provide for the adjudication of disputes relating to waters of inter-state rivers (Entry 56, Union List; Article 262).

Article 262 of the Constitution empowers Parliament to legislate for adjudication of inter-state water disputes and expressly bars the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court or any other court in such disputes (though this bar has been interpreted narrowly by the Supreme Court in practice).

The Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 provides the mechanism: if two or more states cannot agree, the Union government constitutes a Tribunal.
Mullaperiyar is unusual in that the disputes have been directly litigated before the Supreme Court (under its original jurisdiction under Article 131, suits between states) rather than through a statutory tribunal.
Other major interstate water disputes: Cauvery (Karnataka-Tamil Nadu), Mahanadi (Odisha-Chhattisgarh), Krishna (Andhra Pradesh-Karnataka-Maharashtra-Telangana), Narmada (Gujarat-Madhya Pradesh-Maharashtra-Rajasthan).
Centre-State tension: The Centre's role in constituting and managing the expert panel under the Dam Safety Act places it in a quasi-arbitral position between Kerala and Tamil Nadu — a constitutionally sensitive space.

Connection to this news: The Centre's decision to ask Kerala to re-nominate (after removing Sivarajan) is viewed by Kerala as federally high-handed. The episode illustrates the tension between the Union's overarching dam safety mandate under the 2021 Act and the states' insistence on meaningful representation in safety review processes.

Periyar River and Kerala's Geographic Significance

The Periyar river is Kerala's longest and most voluminous river, originating in the Periyar Tiger Reserve in the Western Ghats (Sivagiri Hills) and flowing westwards before draining into the Arabian Sea near Aluva (Ernakulam district). The Mullaperiyar dam diverts a portion of the Periyar's waters eastwards through a tunnel to Tamil Nadu.

Periyar basin area: approximately 5,284 sq km in Kerala.
The Periyar Tiger Reserve (est. 1978), located in Idukki district, is one of India's oldest Project Tiger reserves and encompasses the Periyar Lake formed by the Mullaperiyar dam.
The dam and reservoir fall within the Cardamom Hills (part of the Western Ghats), a UNESCO World Heritage landscape and a seismically sensitive region — central to Kerala's safety concerns.
Downstream risk: a dam failure at Mullaperiyar would endanger five districts in Kerala, with a population of over 3.5 million, according to Kerala's submissions before the Supreme Court.

Connection to this news: The geography of the dam — sitting in a seismically active zone within a biodiversity hotspot — underpins Kerala's safety concerns and makes the independent expert panel's composition a matter of direct public interest, not merely inter-governmental protocol.

Key Facts & Data

Mullaperiyar dam: masonry gravity dam built 1887–1895; 53.6 m (176 ft) height; on Periyar river, Idukki district, Kerala.
1886 lease: 999-year lease to British; annual rent Rs 40,000; now operated by Tamil Nadu.
Full Reservoir Level dispute: Tamil Nadu seeks 142 ft; Kerala has urged caution; Supreme Court (2014) allowed 142 ft.
Dam Safety Act, 2021: India's first dedicated dam safety law; in force December 30, 2021.
Comprehensive Dam Safety Evaluation (CDSE) deadline for all specified dams: December 2026.
NDSA has jurisdiction over dams spanning multiple states or operated by a different state than where it sits.
Five-member CDSEC constituted by CWC; Kerala's nominee (T.K. Sivarajan) was removed; Kerala protested.
Constitutional provisions: Article 262 (inter-state water disputes); Entry 17 List II (water, state subject); Entry 56 List I (inter-state rivers, Union List).
Downstream risk if dam fails: 5 districts in Kerala, 3.5+ million people at risk.