Mullaperiyar Tree Given the Tamil Nadu govt’s determination to appeal the Supreme Court of India‘s decision to freeze the order allowing tree felling at the baby dam site, the Kerala government is proposing all possibilities to avoid legal defeat in the Mullaperiyar matter.
Tamil Nadu is most inclined to argue that the Supreme Court’s prior directive was not intended to prevent the state from strengthening the baby dam.
As per the legal experts, whenever the court reviews the case, the ruling issued by Chief Wildlife Warden of the Kerala Forest Service Bennichan Thomas allowing tree-felling by Tamil Nadu will be a big disadvantage for Kerala. They say that even if Kerala claims that the tree-felling decision has been frozen, it will face legal challenges.
The contentious tree-felling decision will also be a hot topic of debate at next weekend’s meetings of Kerala and Tamil Nadu chief ministers on the Mullaperiyar problem.
Though Kerala has temporarily put a stop to the issues by delaying the order, the issue of how to mitigate the detrimental impact of the government decree remains. However, major parties in Tamil Nadu are attempting to capitalize on popular outrage in Tamil Nadu over Kerala’s decision to freeze the decision.
Kerala’s biggest concern is that the state’s request for a new dam will be weakened by the recent tree-felling decree. Another issue is what the state’s position would be if Tamil Nadu contends before the Supreme Court that the withholding of the decision is equal to criminal contempt and also that Kerala is preventing the baby dam from being strengthened.
The Government of kerala is attempting to persuade the Supreme Court and Tamil Nadu that the tree-felling decision was given to create a favourable environment for resolving the Mullaperiyar conflict amicably, but that the order was forced to be halted due to massive resistance in Kerala.