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Central government breaches apex court order: Jayalalithaa
Chennai, June 11
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalaltihaa termed the central
government's decision to entertain Kerala's request to approve the terms
of reference for an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for a new dam
as "a gross violation" of a Supreme Court order.
In a letter to
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made public on Thursday, Jayalaltihaa said:
"The very act of entertaining Kerala's request and considering the same
by the (central) government ... is a gross violation of the order of
the Supreme Court of May 7, 2014.
"In fact, the government of
India should have desisted from entertaining and considering the
proposal and ought to have remitted the proposal back to the government
of Kerala," she said.
Jayalalithaa wrote to Modi after the
central environment ministry examined the terms of reference suggested
by Kerala for conducting an EIA to construct a new Mulla Periyar Dam in
Kerala's Idukki district.
"Under the circumstances, I seek your
personal intervention and request you to instruct the ministry ... and
its agencies to desist from entertaining and considering the proposal of
Kerala in future and also to return (the proposal) it to the government
of Kerala," she said.
According to Jayalalithaa, when a finality
had been reached in the Mulla Periyar Dam issue, Kerala was seeking to
subvert the Supreme Court order by stealth.
"Tamil Nadu has
already filed an Interlocutory Application in the Supreme Court, seeking
to restrain Kerala from conducting an EIA study and also reserved its
right to file a contempt plea in the Supreme Court, and this matter has
been adjourned to July by the Supreme Court," she said.