Vedanta's plea to reopen Sterlite copper smelter plant dismissed
The Madras High Court dismissed Vedanta Ltd's plea to reopen its Sterlite Copper smelter unit in Tuticorin.
People in Tuticorin who are against the copper smelter plant celebrated the court order by bursting firecrackers and distributing sweets. Political leaders too have welcomed the order.
The order was delivered by Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and V. Bhavani Subbaroyan. The court said the ban on the plant would continue.
The copper smelter plant was shut down by the state government following a protest that led to the deaths of 13 people in police firing in May 2018. Ever since the copper smelter plant was permitted in Tuticorin several years back people had been protesting against it alleging it of polluting the environment around.
In 2019, Vedanta had approached the High Court and sought a direction to the Tamil Nadu government to allow the copper smelter plant's reopening.
The Supreme Court had earlier told Vedanta to approach the High Court in a petition filed by Tamil Nadu government against the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order to reopen the plant.
The apex court also held that the NGT does not have the jurisdiction to hear the appeal filed by Vedanta against the plant closure order issued by the state government.
The NGT in December 2018 had directed the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to issue Renewal of Consent and issue authorisation to Vedanta to handle the hazardous substances.
Meanwhile the High Court verdict has been welcomed by Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister D.Jayakumar, DMK President M.K.Stalin, MDMK General Secretary Vaiko and others.
Welcoming the order Jayakumar said the government is against reopening of the plant.
Stalin termed the High Court order as the one that respected the people's feelings and the one that would protect humanity.
He said the Tamil Nadu government instead of closing the plant by issuing an order should have called a meeting of the cabinet and taken a policy level decision to close down the plant.