SC indicates Vedanta can refurbish Thoothukudi plant; T.N. says nobody has a right to set up a polluting industry

Supreme Court allows Vedanta to refurbish Thoothukudi plant with upfront deposit for environmental safeguards, following expert advice.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that Vedanta Limited could refurbish its Thoothukudi copper smelting plant, closed six years ago on the grounds of environmental pollution, provided that it follows expert advice on environmental safeguards and also makes an upfront deposit in an escrow account for this purpose.

“We can allow you to refurbish, six years have gone by… We can direct you to put some money upfront, say in an escrow, as a bonafide measure that you will comply with all the environmental safeguards framed by an expert panel of which the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) will be a part. After all, it is the State’s land. They have the remit,” Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, heading a three-judge Bench, addressed senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Vedanta.

The court said that it had “an obligation to protect the welfare of the local community in Thoothukudi. They are a voiceless people”.

Mr. Divan suggested that the “way forward” would be to appoint an expert committee with representatives from the Environment Ministry, NEERI, the Central Pollution Control Board, the Indian Institute of Technology, Vedanta, along with three independent members as well as officers of the TNPCB. He proposed that the committee, chaired by a retired SC judge, could recommend conditions for reopening the plant, including additional environmental safeguards, within a month.

The TNPCB, however, strongly countered that the plant had been closed due to extensive pollution in the area. Several committees had asked the company to take remedial measures, but they were not complied with. Referring to the court’s remarks that the copper plant was a “national asset” which the country cannot afford to lose, senior advocate C.S. Vaidyanathan said that balancing national interests did not mean reopening the plant at the cost of the lives of the local people.

“But it is nobody’s case that copper smelters are barred in India. It is within the industrial policy,” the Chief Justice intervened.

Mr. Vaidyanathan and advocate M.F. Philip, for TNPCB, said that there was “no right to set up a polluting industry, that too, in a heavily populated place”.