SC moots expert panel to look into green concerns for reopening of Sterlite plant

“On one hand, the concerns of the State as custodian of the people will also be protected. Second, your concern of the investment into the plant is protected,” the CJI said.

The CJI underlined that a “middle ground” can be worked out. “…This industry generates revenue for the nation and the State…You should not be a facility that is lost to the nation…some sort of a middle ground can be found,” he said, adding the proposed committee can take a decision in a month or so.

Senior Advocate Shyam Divan who appeared for Vedanta Ltd said TNPSB decision to deny renewal of the Consent to Operate (CTO) was “too drastic and disproportionate a response, assuming there was some deviation” given that it had been in operation since 1997.

“The parameters at the stage of renewal for a running unit established in 1997 would be a little distinct from initial permission,” Divan said.

The senior counsel submitted that “the state government which directed the closure of the plant had no power under the Air Act or the Water Act to so direct. The Board could have done it but what happened here was the state government directed it and the Board followed suit”.

Senior Advocates C S Vaidyanathan and Gopal Sankaranarayanan who appeared for the TN government opposed the proposal for setting up a committee and said their past conduct justified the move to shut it down.

The bench said that in case the committee finds that the closure was not needed, it would still have to make the facility state-of-the-art and not continue as it was in 2018.

Agreeing with the proposal for an expert committee to look into the conditionalities for restarting the plant, Divan urged the court to allow it in the interim to carry out refurbishment work at the unit.

The TN government opposed this and said no such interim relief could be granted while the main contentions were yet to be heard. The court asked both sides to give their inputs on the modalities for the committee when it hears the matter again Thursday. “You also apply your mind to what could best subserve the public interest… because we cannot be oblivious to the fact that the community in Tuticorin has to also be carried along,” the CJI added.

The Madras High Court had by order dated August 18, 2020, upheld the decision to deny renewal of CTO, following which Vedanta Ltd approached the SC.