A day ahead of the proposed meeting between the officials of Kerala and Tamil Nadu to resolve the Mullaperiyar dispute, the Central water ministry officially informed both the states that the meeting was cancelled following objections
from the Tamil Nadu government. The ministry on Thursday informed the states that the meeting would be held after the supreme-court appointed committee on Mullaperiyar submitted its final report.
The ministry had called the meeting after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued a special direction to it in this regard. However, Tamil Nadu government sent letters to the ministry twice objecting to attend the meeting.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Thursday refused to appeal to the Prime Minister for his intervention in the Mullaperiyar dam issue following objections from the Tamil Nadu government. A five-judge constitution bench, however, observed the union government could take a leading role in resolving the dispute. The court did not make the appeal to the Prime Minister as sought by Kerala after Tamil Nadu objected to it on the grounds that the apex court-appointed empowered committee’s report was awaited.
The bench, headed by justice D.K. Jain, also dismissed Tamil Nadu’s plea to direct the Central government for deploying Central Industrial Security Forces (CISF) at the dam’s site.