The Supreme Court today set aside a Madras High Court order of September 29, 2010, to close down Sterlite Industries’ copper smelting unit at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu.

Instead, it directed Sterlite to pay Rs 100 crore as compensation within three months to the Tuticorin District Administration for environment-related issues.

Interest from this fund, to be deposited in a nationalised bank, will be used to maintain the environment of the local area.

Gas leak complaints

A statement from Sterlite Industries said the company welcomes the Supreme Court order, which sets at rest a long-pending litigation.

The Madras High Court order had followed petitions by NGOs and political parties in 1996 and 1997. The Supreme Court had stayed the order, on October 1, 2010, enabling the unit to operate.

However, the plant has been closed since March 30 following charges of gas leakage, which Sterlite has denied.

A senior executive from the company, who did not want to be named, said the Supreme Court order paves the way for the company to work with the State Pollution Control Board.

The Board had ordered the unit shut on March 30 following complaints from the public on possible gas leakage from the plant a week earlier, on March 23.

The official said the company has not been able to get through to the Pollution Control Board officials after the last order. “They were probably busy with the Supreme Court proceedings,” the official said.

In a statement from Delhi, regional party Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s leader Vaiko, one of the petitioners, said demonstrations against the polluting unit will continue. Those organisations opposing the plant will continue their fight.

Last week also saw demonstrations in support of the plant by its employees and local traders in Tuticorin. Sterlite Copper supplies nearly half the copper demand of the domestic market and is part of the Rs 41,000-crore Vedanta Plc.

>balaji.ar@thehindu.co.in

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