Though the litigation over the contentious safety issue of the Mullaperiyar dam remains far from resolved, it continues to bleed the State exchequer going by the response to a Right to Information (RTI) application.
In a little over 14 years between January 1, 2010 and March 31, 2024 the Kerala government has spent over ₹6.79 crore on this count, according to a response issued by the Joint Director, Dams, to a query by RTI activist Raju Vazhakkala.
This is in addition to the budgetary allocation of ₹86.71 lakh under the Mullaperiyar-related litigation head for the current fiscal. However, no expenditure has been incurred so far during this fiscal.
The largest chunk of payment of ₹5.42 crore has gone as fees to ten different lawyers engaged by the State over the years. Supreme Court lawyer Harish N. Salve has received the biggest pay check of ₹2.42 crore followed by G. Prakash ₹1.79 crore, Mohan V. Katarki ₹1.24 crore, and Rajeev Dhavan over ₹1 crore.
V. Giri received a fee of ₹27.60 lakh, Ramesh Babu M.R. ₹20.76 lakh, Aparajitha Singh ₹6.05 lakh, Gayathri Goswami ₹4.50 lakh, P.P. Rao ₹2.75 lakh, and Jayadeep Gupta ₹1.10 lakh. No arrears is due towards lawyers’ fees.
Travelling allowance accounted for ₹60.78 lakh, expenses related to the Empowered Committee ₹59.16 lakh, and ₹16.65 lakh towards honorarium made up the rest of the expenses.
