SC declines Vedanta's plea to reopen Sterlite plant for interim measure

A bench presided over by Justice R F Nariman put the appeal for detailed hearing in January

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined for now a plea by Vedanta to allow it to enter its Sterlite plant at Thoothukudi, which was closed in 2018 after huge local protests.

A bench presided over by Justice R F Nariman put the appeal filed by the company against the Madras HC order, upholding the closure, for detailed hearing in January.

Appearing for the company, senior advocate A M Singhvi, said wastage of national resource can be stopped by allowing short run of the plant for three months.

"There is a pre-conceived decision to not allow the plant to run. The short run would allow us to identify any issues still remaining. The plant was started in 1997. It provided for direct employment to 4,000 people, indirect employment to about 20,000," he said.

"There were trickle down dependants, of more than two lakh. It supplied 36 per cent of the country's copper needs. Now, India is becoming dependant on copper imports," he said.

He also said the closure of the Sterlite plant has made India a net importer. There were allegations of asphyxiation etc, but the district collector had given certificate that emission was within limits and no one had asked for help.

The counsel also said protests had turned violent in May, 2018, following which the Pollution Control Board denied consent to operate and shad hut down the power supply, in mala fide and motivated orders.

The counsel said none of these orders followed principle of natural justice.

The High Court, in its judgement of August 18, went into hundreds of the intervention applications since 2013.

"The order says we have done something wrong even though their own report said everything is fine. Four of the orders were passed after the violence by protesters. What is the public interest I am harming if I go and inspect? It takes two months to make the plant operational because it has been closed for a while," he said.

Countering the submissions, the Tamil Nadu pollution control board's counsel said the company was trying to mislead the court, as the industry has been polluting.

At this stage, interim arrangement to reopen the plant cannot be given particularly since the HC had upheld the PCB order for closing the plant, it said.