The Supreme Court on Thursday, February 29, dismissed Vedanta’s plea asking for the reopening of its Sterlite copper smelter plant in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district. Vedanta had gone to the Supreme Court challenging the Madras High Court’s decision in 2020 to close down the plant. The bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said that while they acknowledge the contribution the plant has made as a productive asset of the nation, but ruled that repeated nature of breaches, coupled with the severity of the violations, made them arrive at the conclusion.
The Court said, “We are conscious of the nature of contribution of the company to the area. However court has to be mindful of principle of sustainable development and health and welfare of the residents of the area is a matter of utmost concern"
The Court also observed that the closure of the industry was not actually a matter of first choice but because of the repeated nature of breaches, coupled with the severity of the violations is what prompted the court to reach the decision
The Supreme Court also dismissed the appeals filed by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, which challenged the observations made by the Madras HC against it regarding its inaction.
Vedanta has gone to court multiple times. It had claimed that the Sterlite plant “has been steeply deteriorating” since it has been “lying shut since May 2018”. It further claimed that “massive corrosion has occurred leading to the collapse of the structures and critical assets due to lack of regular maintenance and rain water accumulation.”
Vedanta also claimed that damages have been sustained in the copper smelter, electrolytic refinery, sulfuric acid plant (SAP), phosphoric acid plant (PAP), and that their condition was hazardous.
In 2018, Thoothukudi residents had organised a 100-day protest against the plant alleging environmental pollution since the 1990s. Thirteen civilians were shot dead during the agitation on the 100th day.