SC seeks ‘way forward’ from TN on restarting Sterlite plant

According to the bench, the state government and the pollution board should propose a way out instead of the court “shoving an order down everybody’s throat”

India is not a “banana republic” where industries can be shut without following the rule of law, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday, asking the Tamil Nadu government and its state pollution control board to suggest a “way forward” for restarting the shut Sterlite copper smelting plant owned by Vedanta in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi (also known as Tuticorin).

The plant by Sterlite Copper, the Indian subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, a global mining and metals conglomerate, has remained shut since 2018 over alleged violation of environmental norms and protests by the local population against its operation (Sa)

The plant by Sterlite Copper, the Indian subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, a global mining and metals conglomerate, has remained shut since 2018 over alleged violation of environmental norms and protests by the local population against its operation.

“The national interest cannot be overlooked. As it is, there are only a few copper smelters in the country. The nation should not lose this asset...suggest a way forward. The easiest thing is to shut a plant. But we want you to suggest a way forward as to what would subserve the public interest best,” a bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, asked the senior counsel appearing for the Tamil Nadu government and the state pollution control board.

According to the bench that also comprised justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, the state government and the pollution board should propose a way out instead of the court “shoving an order down everybody’s throat”.

“What’s the best modalities to subserve the larger public interest? We understand your concerns and we will put the most stringent conditions on them...The people and the community in Tuticorin must also have confidence and we acknowledge it. The state government can do it and our order can help in achieving that further. They can do business only if you are on board. Which company can operate if the state government is not on board,” the bench told senior counsel Gopal Sankaranarayanan and CS Vaidyanathan, who represented the state and the pollution board respectively in the matter.

The bench further proposed the constitution of a committee, comprising experts on pollution control and environment, which it said can submit the report on copper smelter operations, conditions for operations and reparations payable for environmental harm.

While Sankaranarayanan said that his instructions are repeated violations by Vedanta do not warrant a relook at the closure of the plant, Vaidyanathan said that the company should rather sell its plant and shift elsewhere. Both the lawyers, however, acceded to the court’s nudge to hold consultations with the authorities yet again and revert on Thursday when the matter will be heard again. Senior counsel Shyam Divan appeared for Vedanta.

At one point of the day-long hearing, Vaidyanthan urged the bench to look beyond the 2018 show-cause notice of the state pollution control board enumerating the grounds of violations, adding larger public interest required to be considered.

But the bench retorted: “You are shutting down an industry. We are not a banana republic. We are a republic governed by the rule of law. They (Vedanta) may be violators, but you will have to follow fairness. You cannot show five grounds for shutting them down and later say there are 20 other grounds that a court must consider.”

It added: “The order of the Madras high court (affirming the shutdown notice in 2020) was thoroughly wrong. They were not hearing an appeal, but a writ petition filed by the company...and you cannot say that ‘I will sustain my order on some other grounds’...You cannot say these are bad apples and so for other reasons, we will shut them down.”

Stepping in, Sankaranarayanan said that while the pollution control board’s order could be based on some specific grounds, the state government was empowered under the state pollution control law to order shutting down a plant. The court, however, pointed out that the state government’s order also lent credence to the grounds mentioned by the state pollution control board.

At the same time, the bench told Divan that he would have to address the issue raised by the pollution control board that the plant dumped nearly six million metric tonnes of slag in 20 locations across the city, besides operating without a valid authorisation between 2013 and 2018.

Tens of thousands of protesters had taken to the streets of Thoothukudi in May 2018 against a proposed expansion of Sterlite’s 400,000-tonne annual capacity smelter. After the protests turned violent and police opened fire, 13 protesters died.

A week later, the state pollution control board and the state government ordered the plant shut for alleged pollution. The plant, at that time, was producing over 400,000 tonnes of metal ores annually and accounted for 40% of India’s copper output.