New Delhi :The Supreme Court on Wednesday suggested appointing a bipartisan expert committee to take care of concerns of the state government and Vedanta group and explore the possibility of reopening Vedanta’s copper smelting plant in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi. Until the closure of the Sterlite Copper plant in 2018, India was a net exporter of copper for nearly two decades.
The apex court observed that national interest can’t be overlooked and there are few copper smelters in the country, the nation should not lose this asset.
A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and comprising justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, is hearing Vedanta group’s plea regarding the closure of its Sterlite copper unit in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin. Senior advocate Shyam Divan, represented the Vedanta group, and senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan and Gopal Sankaranarayan represented the respondents, which included Tamil Nadu government and others.
The bench proposed an expert committee to examine if Vedanta can resume operations, to prescribe safeguards. The apex court has proposed that the committee can include NEERI, IIT, TNPCB, CPCB, and three environmental experts. Tamil Nadu opposed the committee, stating that repeated violations by Vedanta do not warrant a relook at the closure of the plant.
The CJI, in the post lunch session, told the counsel, for the parties before the court, said: “we cannot lose sight of the overall national interest….if we can have sort of a bipartisan expert committee where your concerns over the fact that there should be determination (by the company) and their (state government ) concerns that they custodians of welfare of residents, that is taken care of….”.
The bench said the committee could look at five grounds (mentioned in the show cause notice issued to the company) and also anything else the state government wants to suggest. “Also, we must put you (company) on terms that if the committee comes to a conclusion that consent to operate should only be given subject to your company doing additional things, which means investment of more Rs 100 crore that is not our concern….”, noted the bench.
The CJI said If the committee feels that to make this a sustainable project, “we will impose these conditions then on one hand concerns of the state as custodians of the health of the people will be protected and second your concern that you have put investment, and our broader concern that there should not be a facility, which is lost to the nation. Some sort of a middle ground can be reached. The committee can perhaps take its decision in one month or so….”. Divan said he is in broad agreement with the suggestion of the court.
During the daylong hearing, the bench said the plant has been non-operational since 2018, the company cannot be permitted to operate the plant as it was in 2018 and it cannot pass an interim order regarding refurbishing. “That should be subject matter of a domain expert...who would say today's state of art facility for a copper smelter plant should xyz…for company it is a business investment…for a win-win situation for everyone, we cannot exclude the state’s concerns. The governments in Tamil Nadu irrespective of political dispensation have been one, on the approach towards this particular smelter. We have to find a way forward”, said CJI.