The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday dismissed an appeal of Vedanta Group, which sought direction for reopening of its Sterlite Copper plant in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi. The apex court said the plant was a chronic violator of air and water pollution laws.In May 2018, the Tamil Nadu government ordered a permanent shutdown of Vedanta’s copper smelter plant over environmental concerns. The plant had been idle since March of that year when the company shut it down as part of its periodic maintenance schedule. It had remained shut ever since as protests mounted against it by locals who said pollution from the factory had impacted their health.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra dismissed the special leave petition by Vedanta against an August 2020 Madras High Court, which dismissed a batch of pleas by the company against the closure of its copper plant in Tuticorin.
The top court, in its judgement, said: “Closure of industry undoubtedly not a matter of first choice. However, the repeated nature of breaches, coupled with the severity of the violations would in this analysis neither the statutory authorities nor the HC to take any other view unless they were to be oblivious of their plain duty.”
Earlier this month, the apex court had voiced concern over the health and welfare of the people while hearing Vedanta’s plea for the resumption of operations at the pant. The court said it cannot be oblivious to the wider concerns of the community.