Permanently seal Vedanta unit: HC

The high court on Tuesday refused to allow the reopening of Vedanta’s copper smelter in Thoothukudi, more than two years after it was closed because of pollution concerns that triggered violent protests.

The Tamil Nadu government ordered the smelter to be closed a week after 13 people died when anti-pollution demonstrations turned violent and police fired at protesters.

The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea by the company seeking the smelter’s reopening. “The doctrine of sustainable development, precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle needs to be applied,” the court said.

“If applied, facts speak for themselves, petitioner needs to be closed and permanently sealed.”

Tens of thousands of locals stormed the streets of Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu on May 22, 2018, accusing Vedanta of polluting the environment.

Police said they opened fire as they were overwhelmed. The subsequent violence claimed 13 lives and injured over a hundred people. No policeman has been charged so far.

Vedanta has denied accusations of pollution, and called the decision to shut its plant a political response to the outrage over the police firing.

But the Madras High Court said in its 815-page judgment on Tuesday the shutdown “cannot be treated as knee-jerk reaction”.

The judgment is the latest challenge confronting Vedanta, which has also faced legal action over its operations in Zambia.

C. Aryama Sundaram, a lawyer for Vedanta, said the company plans to challenge the judgment in the Supreme Court, adding the judgment would raise India’s copper imports.

The court downplayed this argument. “The petitioner has been consistently stating... requirement of copper in India cannot be met...The courts have held that when it comes to economy pitted against environment, environment will reign supreme,” it said.