TN can challenge Centre’s report visavis Sterlite: HC

CHENNAI:

The Madras high court disposed of a Tamil Nadu government’s plea seeking quashing of the Centre’s groundwater quality report that declined to pin the blame only on Sterlite’s copper unit, now closed, for pollution, saying that the state may challenge it as per law. A division bench comprising justices M M Sundresh and Krishnan Ramasamy said it was not inclined to get into the merits of the case or express any opinion. Earlier, it recorded additional solicitor general G Rajagopalan’s submission that as per Article 131 of the Constitution, the report could be challenged only in the Supreme Court. The petition was filed by the state government in September.

with “environment protection”. He, however, refused to comment on the demand of various stake-holders for resumption of the mining activity in Goa. Mining in the coastal state came to a halt in March this year after the Supreme Court quashed renewal of 88 mining leases. It is to be noted that Union Law Ministry had reportedly asked the Centre to decline the Goa’s request for an amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act to resume mining. “Mining can co-exist with the environment protection,” Rathore said, referring to the mining site of Vedanta which has been turned into a football academy and a skill training centre.