MADURAI: Following an undertaking by Advocate General Vijay Narayan that the government order for the closure of the Sterlite plant is sufficient to keep it permanently shut, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday rejected a Public Interest Litigation petition filed by MDMK leader Vaiko seeking additional orders to prevent the company from resuming operations.
The plea was rejected by a bench comprising Justices CT Selvam and AM Basheer Ahamed while considering a batch of PIL petitions filed regarding the incidents that took place during the anti-Sterlite protests in Thoothukudi on May 22.
The litigants stated that since the closure order was based on the report submitted by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), any move by the company challenging the report might weaken the order. They sought a policy decision to ensure that the plant stays closed permanently.
The Advocate-General submitted that the government, especially the TNPCB, had taken all the necessary actions to ensure the closure of the plant.
“The existing order itself is a policy decision taken by a high-level committee of the State and was passed with the intention of closing the plant permanently,” said the Advocate-General, adding that nothing more could be done to keep the plant from resuming operations.