Chennai: Justice K K Sasidharan of the Madras High Court has recused himself from hearing the case filed by Sterlite Copper to reopen the Thoothukudi plant.
He announced the decision when the case was listed to come up this morning before the bench that also had Justice Asha.
According to reports, Justice Sasidharan had already passed orders in the Sterlite Copper case when it was taken by the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court and that was the reason he was abstaining from the case now.
The judge has also recommended to Chief Justice of Madras High Court, Justice Vijaya Tahilramani, to shift the case to a different bench.
The Sterlite Copper plant in Thoothukudi was ordered to be shut by the Tamilnadu government after the people of the town protested against its operation due to alleged pollution of air and contamination of water. The 100-day protest culminated in police firing in which more than a dozen people died.