SC rejects Vendata’s plea to reopen Sterlite Copper

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday turned down a plea by metal company Vedanta to consider reopening its Sterlite Copper smelting plant at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu for a trial run. An SC bench, headed by Justice Rohinton F Nariman, said that the court was not inclined to modify or recall its order of December 2, 2020 when Vedanta’s application on reopening the plant was formally rejected.

“We won’t recall our December order,” the bench, which also included justices Navin Sinha and KM Joseph, told Vedanta’s lawyers, Mukul Rohatgi and Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

The Madras HC, by its judgment in August 2020, rejected Vedanta’s petition to reopen the plant, citing environmental concerns and several defaults by the copper smelter. Vedanta then moved in appeal before the SC and made a proposal to operate the plant for 30 days under the supervision of a court-appointed expert panel. This plea was, however, rejected point-blank by the bench in December when it also said that the case will now be heard when the physical hearing resumes, given the fact that almost 17,000 pages formed part of the case records.

On Friday, a petition filed by the Tamil Nadu government against the Madras HC judgment came up for a hearing in which the state requested the top court to expunge adverse comments made by the high court on laxity and culpability of the officials of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board regarding operation of the copper smelter. Additional advocate general Balaji Srinivasan appeared for the Tamil

Nadu government.

As the proceedings commenced, senior counsel Rohatgi submitted that Vedanta was seeking a modification of the previous order so that a trial run of the copper smelter could take place. But the court turned down this plea instantly, saying all this will be looked into when the matter will be taken up for a final hearing.

On his part, Singhvi urged the bench to indicate a fixed date for hearing the matter but the bench was disinclined. “No, we cannot give you a fixed date. We have many more important matters. This is not the only important case we have,” retorted the bench. Meanwhile, the bench also issued notices to Vedanta and others on the petition by the Tamil Nadu government and said both the appeals against the Madras high court judgment will come up for a hearing together.