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The Madras High Court on Wednesday allowed petitioners opposing and supporting the re-opening of Vedanta’s Sterlite copper smelter in Thoothukudi to implead themselves in the case.
A Division Bench comprising Justices TS Sivagnanam and Bhavani Subbaroyan will be hearing the case, which is posted for June 20. Interestingly, the same Bench recently quashed the land acquisition notifications for the proposed ₹10,000-crore Chennai-Salem greenfield expressway project.
When the case was listed on Tuesday before Justice KK Sasidharan and PT Asha, the former recused himself as he had earlier passed an order in a related matter.
The Madras High Court on March 1 admitted a petition filed by the Vedanta group for re-opening the Sterlite facility but declined to grant interim relief that would have given the company access to the plant for carrying out maintenance work.
The petition was filed on February 27 following the Supreme Court’s suggestion to approach the Madras High Court against the closure order of the plant by the State.
Vedanta’s petition challenged the May 23, 2018, orders of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board declining to provide renewal of consent (RoC) to operate the plant and also on the permanent closure. The company claimed that the orders were illegal, unconstitutional and ultra vires .
The State government ordered the plant’s permanent closure following anti-Sterlite protests that turned violent, leading to the death of 13 people in a police firing on May 22. The protest was against alleged environmental pollution caused by the plant.
The National Green Tribunal on December 15 allowed Sterlite to re-open the plant. However, the Supreme Court on February 18 set aside the NGT order on the grounds of maintainability, saying the NGT has no jurisdiction to order the plant’s re-opening, and suggested that Vedanta approach the Madras High Court against the closure order.
In its petition with the Madras High Court, Vedanta said that due to the plant’s closure, the company is losing ₹5 crore every day. The closure has also affected ancillary industries, it added.
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