Madras High Court order against reopening Sterlite Thoothukudi plant not faulty: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court Thursday stressed that it cannot ignore the concerns of the people who are opposed to reopening of Vedanta's Sterlite Copper plant in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi [Vedanta Limited v. State of Tamil Nadu & Ors].A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra made it clear that it cannot be oblivious to the wider concerns of the voiceless people in Thoothukudi."We have to protect the health of the people and welfare.. they were voiceless people. They all cannot come here. We cannot be oblivious to the wider concerns of the community ... We also do not want to find fault with the High Court entirely because if Vedanta applies for renewal then they can look beyond closure and state of industry today. We cannot take a strict administrative law approach in this," the CJI remarked..The bench was hearing a plea by the mining giant seeking permission to reopen the plant which was shut down by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (PCB) in 2018 citing violations of environmental laws.The closure order was passed immediately after the plant had turned into a protest site with citizens opposing the expansion of the plant. The order was supported by the State government.The protest took a violent turn on its hundredth day when police opened fire on the protesters, leading to several civilian casualties. Vedanta subsequently challenged the closure order before the National Green Tribunal which ruled in the company’s favour and allowed the reopening of the plant. In February 2019, the Supreme Court, set aside the NGT order on the ground that the NGT did not have the jurisdiction to entertain the case. However, Vedanta was allowed to move the Madras High Court against the orders passed against it.The High Court then rejected the plea, prompting the present appeal before the Supreme Court..The bench had during the previous hearing said it may constitute a committee of experts to inspect the plant to see whether it can be reopened with stringent conditions in place nearly six years after its closure.The apex court had reasoned that “a way forward” must be found so that the “asset” is not lost by the country, which has only three-four copper smelters ..During the hearing today, Senior Advocate Shyam Divan appeared for Vedanta while Senior Advocate CS Vaidyanathan appeared for the State Pollution Control Board.CJI Chandrachud at the outset reiterated that the company could be allowed to reopen if an expert committee approves the same subject to stringent conditions, both financial and environmental."If we go into this then we will supplant the jurisdiction of an expert. If we take upon ourselves and reject the High Court order and three year later we see that there is a leak then imagine the moral responsibility will be on us," he said.Divan pointed out that the environmental clearance granted in 2007 was never challenged. On the committee proposed, Divan suggested that it should have a member who is aware of the situation on the ground and it could be led by a retired Supreme Court judge.Vaidyanathan opposed the same and stated that committee after committee had found evidence of high pollution which is a feature of copper smelting plants. No red-category plant existed in the State on the scale of Vedanta, he argued. The CJI then remarked, "But our country does not bar copper smelters". It is not as if the pollution control board had done something wrong that needs to be set aside, Vaidyanathan replied. "This court has held that economic interests will pay way for the environmental protection interests," he said. The CJI asked whether the board was able to remove the slag and gypsum from the plant and and also said that unless some incentive was offered it in this regard, it would not be removed. "The question is can they be allowed again to do this. They were put to terms in 2013 as well," Vaidyanathan submitted.The hearing will continue on Thursday.