The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on 23rd May issued an interim stay on the expansion of the Vedanta Group’s Sterlite Copper plant in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi. The order came a day after 11 people were killed and many more were injured in the town during a protest. Justices M Sundar and Anita Sumant directed the Centre to hold a public hearing-a requirement which was necessary under the Environmental Impact Notification dated 14.09.2006, within four months before granting environmental clearance to Sterlite.
The interim stay was issued on a public interest litigation filed by environmentalist Fathima Babu. She had sought to stay the environmental clearance given to Vedanta’s copper smelter unit by the Centre in 2009, and renewed in 2015 and 2016. The petitioner submitted that the requirement of public hearing before grating Environment clearance (EC) had been waived on the incorrect representation by Vedanta that the Unit was to be located within the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) Industrial Park, Phase II which had been submitted to have itself been granted approval. However, Phase II of SIPCOT Industrial Park has not received approval till date.
The Court thus directed that the application of renewal of EC submitted by Vedanta shall be processed expeditiously after conducting a mandatory public hearing. The authorities were directed to decide the application within a period of four months, i.e. on or before 23 September. Till then, the construction at the plant has been stayed.
Courtesy/By: Kritanjali Sarda
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30 May 2018
