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Madras HC allows Sterlite to continue Tuticorin operations; green case hearing on April 28

A division bench of Madras high court today allowed the copper smelting plant of Sterlite Industries Limited at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu to continue its operations until further orders.

The bench comprising Acting Chief Justice N K Jain and Justice K P Sivasubramaniam by extending its earlier interim order, allowed the plant to continue its operations and posted the case for further hearing to April 28.

Following the Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering Research Institute's report dated November 17 last, a bench comprising the then chief justice M S Liberhan and Justice E Padmanabhan, which was hearing the petitions filed by Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Vaiko and National Trust for Clean Environment, had on November 23, ordered immediate closure of the Sterlite copper smelting plant.

However the bench referred to another bench, the hearing of the petition filed by SIL seeking to re-open the factory.

The bench comprising Justice N K Jain and Justice M Karpagavinayagam, which heard the petition filed by SIL, had on December 23 passed an interim order for the reopening of the factory and directed the NEERI to inspect the factory afresh and file a report.

Accordingly, the NEERI submitted its report before the court this morning. A verification team of the NEERI which visited SIL by the end of last month found that SIL had complied with most of the recommendations of the NEERI. SIL had also given an undertaking that it would address itself to all environmental issues by conducting a comprehensive environmental impact and risk assessment.

UNI

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