The Tamil Nadu government on Saturday moved the Supreme Court for a direction to the Centre to convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority immediately to perform its statutory obligations and approve the distress sharing formula evolved by the Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) for sharing of flows of the Cauvery in view of the prevailing distress situation in Tamil Nadu.

In its application, the State said: “During the current irrigation year, 2012-2013, though the southwest monsoon is not vigorous in the Cauvery catchment of Karnataka, the State has received 21.9 tmcft in its four major reservoirs up to July 20,

Dam safe for increasing water level, says report

The Supreme Court will consider on Monday the report of the Empowered Committee — headed by the former Chief Justice of India, A.S. Anand — which has said the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam (MPD) “is hydrologically, structurally and seismically safe for raising the water level from 136 feet to 142 feet after carrying out certain repairs.” On May 4, a Constitution Bench of Justices D.K. Jain, R.M. Lodha, Deepak Verma, C.K. Prasad and Anil R. Dave asked the Registry to supply copies of the report to the Union government, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and directed the matter be listed for further hearing to July 23.

The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed its anguish over the increasing number of car accidents in the city and blamed the Delhi Police for this in not enforcing the order prohibiting use of black films of any Visible Light Transmittance (VLT) percentage or any other material upon the safety glasses, windscreens (front and rear) and side glasses of all vehicles.

A Bench of Justices A. K. Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar reserved order on applications seeking clarification on certain aspects of the order passed on April 27 when the ban was imposed by the Court.

The National Legal Services Authority will file a social justice litigation petition in the Supreme Court for protection of rivers from sand mining operations.

The decision was taken at a meeting held here on Saturday under the chairmanship of Justice Altamas Kabir of the Supreme Court and NALSA executive chairman. According to NALSA member-secretary U. Saratchandran, “Rivers are the important lifelines for water requirements of riparian lands and also for the watershed areas of such rivers.

National Green Tribunal issues notice to State government

The National Green Tribunal, New Delhi, on Thursday issued notice (before admission) to the Tamil Nadu government on a petition filed by R. Veeramani, an advocate, challenging the environmental clearance granted by the State Level Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) to convert the new Legislative Assembly cum Secretariat complex into a hospital.

The Supreme Court has banned all commercial and tourism activities within a five-km radius of the Jarawa Tribal Reserve on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands with a view to protecting the indigenous people.

A Bench of Justices G. S. Singhvi and S. J. Mukhopadhaya on Monday upheld an October 30, 2007 notification declaring an area up to a five-km radius of the Reserve a ‘Buffer Zone’ and prohibiting entry of any person other than a member of the aboriginal tribe into it.

The alternative alignment (4A) for the Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project without cutting across the Adams Bridge or Ram Setu is not economically and ecologically feasible, according to a report of the expert committee headed by R. K. Pachauri submitted by the Centre in the Supreme Court.

The committee was constituted to consider whether the project could be implemented through the alternative alignment (4A) that would cut through the spit of land just east of Dhanushkodi. Work on the present alignment (No.6), which cuts through the Ram Setu, was stayed by the Supreme Court in the wake of considerable opposition to the project.

Setting at rest the controversy over the safety of the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam, the Empowered Committee, headed by the former Chief Justice of India A.S. Anand, has said it is “structurally and hydrologically safe, and Tamil Nadu can raise the water level from 136 to 142 feet after carrying out certain repairs.”

In its report submitted to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the committee is understood to have said: “The dam is seismically safe.” Last year's earth tremors in that region “did not have any impact on the Mullaperiyar dam and the Idukki reservoir and there was no danger to the safety of the two dams.”

The five-member Empowered Committee (EC) headed by former Chief Justice A. S. Anand has finalised the report on the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam.

The 250-page final report will be submitted to the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The committee's term ends this month-end. The committee, after examining the reports it had received from various agencies constituted by it on the strengthening measures as well as on the safety and security of the dam, gave finishing touches to the final report which has eight chapters.

“Scientific facts do not support fears of threat to Asiatic lion population in Gir”

The Gujarat government on Monday strongly opposed any move to shift the Asiatic lions from the Gir forest to Kuno Palpur in Madhya Pradesh. It contended that the lions would not be safe there.