Hearing Vedanta's plea for the resumption of operations at its copper smelter facility in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would ensure that terms would be put to it by an expert panel to resume operations after satisfying environmental safeguards.
The observations and remarks by a bench of the apex court led by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) seemed to be a big ray of hope for Vedanta.
Vedanta had filed a petition in the top court challenging the Madras High Court’s decision against the reopening of the plant.
The argument was inconclusive and would continue on Thursday before the same bench of the top court.
"We have to protect the health of the people and welfare. They are voiceless people. They all cannot come here. We cannot be oblivious to the wider concerns of the community. The suggestion by us for an expert panel would also be viable and they can see and gauge how the plant can start," a concerned Supreme Court observed.
Senior lawyer Shyam Divan, appearing for Vedanta, said the environmental clearance was granted in 2007 and that clearance was never ever challenged.
He suggested to the apex court that the SC should consider setting up an expert committee, comprising of TNPCB, MoEF, NEERI, Vedanta and other officials. A retired judge from the Supreme Court can head the committee, which could submit a report within a month on whether Vedanta can resume operations at the copper smelter plant along with additional environmental safeguards.
The Supreme Court had in its last hearing on February 14 suggested to the parties to consider whether a committee of experts can be constituted to inspect Vedanta’s Sterlite Copper plant at Thoothukudi and reopen it with stringent conditions in place.
It is to be noted that the closure order was passed immediately after the plant had turned into a protest site with citizens opposing its expansion. The order was supported by the state government. The protest took a violent turn after several days, when police opened fire on the protesters, leading to the deaths of several people.
The SC's proposal of a special committee to prescribe safeguards to resume operations at the plant was opposed by the TN govt, citing repeated violations by Vedanta.