Mullaperiyar issue:Govt. may delay decision on lease deed

By Roy Mathew

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, FEB. 12. The State Government has received legal advice that it should bring a legislation to nullify the Periyar lease deed with Tamil Nadu.

However, the present Government is unlikely to take a decision as general elections are round the corner. The decision may be left to the new Government.

The advice, according to sources, will have to be carried out after much deliberations as it is bound to raise a lot of protests in Tamil Nadu. Kerala will not be considering denial of water to Tamil Nadu even if it decides to resume rights over the leased land.

The lease deed was signed between the erstwhile princely State of Travancore and the Madras Presidency allegedly under pressure from the British. This perpetual lease deed for 999 years, according to legal experts, would not have been valid after Independence. However, it got a fresh lease of life following a supplementary agreement signed between Tamil Nadu and Kerala 30 years ago. The lease covered water flowing into an 8,000 acre area which is the area covered by the reservoir at maximum water level of 152 feet.

The deed became a matter of dispute between the two States as Tamil Nadu wanted to raise the storage level of the Mullaperiyar reservoir from the present 136 feet. Kerala opposed it as it feared for the safety of the 105-year-old dam. Following, this, the Janata Party president, Dr. Subramanian Swamy, filed a case before the Supreme Court praying that Tamil Nadu should be allowed to raise the storage level.

The Kerala Government has engaged a team of advocates led by Mr. Asok Desai, to argue its case before the Supreme Court. The Advocate General too had been consulted repeatedly. The legal experts have pointed out that Mullaperiyar was not an inter-State water issue. The entire leased area was within the State's jurisdiction and the State can legislate to take over the area.

The case is likely to come up before the Supreme Court in the fourth week of February. The State Government would be filing an affidavit before the court shortly. In the affidavit, the Government would argue against the recommendations of the Technical Committee set up by the Central Government and point out the increased risk faced by the dam from earthquakes.

Another point under consideration is the effect of raising of the reservoir level on the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. The Periyar Reserve Forest was notified in 1898. The area was declared a game reserve in 1934 and a wildlife sanctuary in 1950. Though Tamil Nadu had lease right over the reservoir area, the reservoir had not been excluded from the notifications. As the water level had been kept low for more than 20 years now, forests have grown in areas which had been earlier submerged by the reservoir.

It is argued that Tamil Nadu has no right to alter the present ecological status of this land in view of subsequent Central legislations such as the Forest (Conservation) Act. However, the State Government will be seriously handicapped in this line of argument because the area had not been declared a national park. Whereas no non-forest activity is allowed in a national park area, certain activities are allowed in a sanctuary area. Though there was a long-pending proposal to declare the Periyar Tiger Reserve as a national park, the Forest Department defaulted on issuing the notification as that would affect its own activities in the area.

In fact, the department was misleading the public in this respect claiming that there are three national parks in the State in Economic Review and other documents. However, the department has now armed itself to take over any ecologically fragile area under a new Ordinance. It may be possible for the department to use this Ordinance to regain all rights over the leased area.

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