SC refuses to stay NGT order setting aside TN decision to shut down Sterlite plant
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 8
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay National Green Tribunal's order of setting aside Tamil Nadu government's decision to close Vedanta's Sterlite copper plant at Tuticorin.
A Bench headed by Justice Rohinton F Nariman, however, asked Vedanta to respond to Tamil Nadu government's appeal against the green tribunal’s order to reopen the plant.
The Tamil Nadu Government on January 2 challenged before the Supreme Court NGT’s verdict setting aside its order to close Vedanta’s Sterlite copper plant at Tuticorin.
Thirteen people were killed and several injured in May last year in police firing on those protesting against pollution allegedly caused by the plant.
The NGT has "erroneously" set aside orders passed by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) last year and directed it to pass fresh orders of renewal of consent and issue authorisation to handle hazardous substances to Vedanta Limited.
Challenging the December 15, 2018, order of NGT, the state government said the tribunal failed to consider the data, document and evidence furnished by TNPCB to prove that Vedanta had irreversibly polluted the ground water in and around Thoothukudi District.
The NGT had held not providing ground water analysis report was a "technical breach and is trivial in nature."
Seeking stay on the NGT verdict, the Tamil Nadu Government said NGT’s finding showed non-application of mind because there was sufficient evidence to show that the plant had polluted ground water and had not provided a ground water analysis report.
In its December 15 order, the NGT had set aside the Tamil Nadu government’s order that closed down Sterlite copper plant at Tuticorin, terming it "non-sustainable" and "unjustified".
Allowing Vedanta’s appeal against its plant's closure, the tribunal asked TNPCB to pass a fresh order of renewal of consent and authorisation to handle hazardous substances, subject to appropriate conditions for protection of environment in accordance with law in three weeks.
The NGT had asked the company to spend Rs 100 crore in three years on welfare of inhabitants of the area as it had offered to do and take measures for environment protection, including creating a dedicated website where the stakeholders can lodge their environment related grievances.
The Tamil Nadu government had, on May 28, ordered the state pollution control board to seal and "permanently" close the mining group's copper plant following violent protests over pollution concerns.