
Setback for Vedanta Group as SC says Sterlite Copper’s Thoothukudi plant to remain shut due to ‘repeated violations’
Citing a series of environmental violations, the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the plea filed by Vedanta Group seeking the re-opening of its Sterlite copper smelter plant in Tamil Nadu. Justifying the decision of the Tamil Nadu government on the closure of the plant, the apex court observed that the Vedanta Group company violated several norms in the disposal of hazardous waste.
“The Court is conscious of the nature of the contribution of the company to the area. However, the Court has to be mindful of the principle of sustainable development and health and welfare of the residents of the area,” said the Bench Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
The Court noted that Vedanta had failed to remove copper slabs at almost 11 sites including private land and also failed to obtain authorisation for disposal of hazardous waste. The plant was shut down by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (PCB) in 2018 citing violations of environmental laws, following a huge protest.
The closure order was passed immediately after the plant had turned into a protest site, with citizens opposing the expansion of the plant. The protest took a violent turn on its 100th day when police opened fire on the protesters, leading to several civilian casualties.
Vedanta subsequently challenged the closure order before the National Green Tribunal, which ruled in the company’s favour and allowed the re-opening of the plant. In February 2019, the Supreme Court set aside the NGT order on the ground that the Tribunal did not have the jurisdiction to entertain the case.
During the COVID lockdown, the apex court allowed the reopening of the Vedanta plant to produce oxygen.
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Time to close down industry in India. Silently let the people to protest against supreme court on themselves for its stupid judgements
Is there a solution to the disposal of the hazardous waste? If yes, was the cost of shutting down the plant vis-a-vis disposal cost was take into account. If we want to progress beyond the present rate the courts need to adopt a problem solving approach, beyond just calling things unconstitutional and relegating the issue back to more than years. Can Judiciary not spell out specifics that are unconstitutional and give a solution to make it constitutional surely the wisdom is there.