The Supreme Court today permitted Kerala and Tamil Nadu to get copies of the report submitted by the monitoring committee on the Mullaperiyar Dam row. A five-judge constitution bench of the court headed by Justice D K Jain posted the matter for further hearing to July 23.

The Council told the Bench both states should sit together and evolve a political consensus on the issue. The Supreme Court appointed empowered committee was set up in February 2010 to look into all aspects of dam, had submitted its report to the apex court in a sealed cover on April 25.

The five-member committee headed by former Chief Justice of India A S Anand had focused on all aspects of the 119-year-old dam including its safety.

There has been tension between the two states over the safety of the dam. Tamil Nadu contends that the dam is safe and its water level has to be raised from 132 ft to 136 feet while Kerala says the structure is weak and it has to be replaced with a new dam.