MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Wednesday sought a counter affidavit from the State government and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) on a petition filed by Vedanta Group seeking permission to remove raw materials and scrap from its copper manufacturing unit, Sterlite, in Thoothukudi.
According to a petition filed by the Chief Operating Officer of the company, A Sumathi, the copper plant was given ‘consent to operate’ in 1996. But the application to renew the consent was rejected by the TNPCB in 2018 and the plant was shut down.
While a legal battle against the decision is ongoing before the Supreme Court, the company obtained permission to remove hazardous materials from the plant by filing separate petitions, Sumathi said. She contended that though the materials were permitted to be removed, there are other materials such as in-process reverts, raw materials and scrap, which have been accumulating there for the past two years.