Madras High Court disposes PIL filed seeking directions to make use of overflowing surplus water from Mettur Dam during monsoon

The Madras High Court disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed seeking a direction to the respondents to make use of the overflowing surplus water discharged from Mettur Dam during rainy monsoon season through 16 vent surplus slices which can be diverted by giant pipes to mix with lake pond Sweda River and Vasistha River on lift irrigation method to get irrigation of thousand number of acres land getting cultivation in Salem Eastern region.

The PIL has been filed by one N.Perumal .

A.Edwin Prabakar State Government Pleader  submits that similar relief is claimed in a petition pending before the Madurai Bench  of 2020.

The Mettur Dam is the main reservoir of Cauvery river. 

The counsel for the petitioner relies upon the order passed by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. 

The Tribunal has observed that, so far Cauvery basin is concerned because of shortage of water, against demands by each riparian State, no note is to be taken of claims made by the States for trans-basin diversion already made or proposed for any purposes.  

“In the present case, it would be diversion from the Cauvery basin to Vellar Basin. It is for the tribunal to pass orders in that regard. The aggrieved persons may approach the Tribunal in that regard”,  the Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice J. Sathya Narayana Prasad observed.