New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said if bits of copper slag are still lying somewhere, isn’t the Tamil Nadu government precipitating the alleged issue of pollution, associated with Vedanta’s copper smelting plant in Thoothukudi, and since the unit has been shut since 2018, why wasn't it removed?
A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India and comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra shot a volley of questions at senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan, representing the Tamil Nadu government. Justice Pardiwala asked Vaidyanathan if there are bits of copper slag still standing today? Vaidyanathan said, "Surprisingly! yes even today". Justice Pardiwala said, “Surprisingly! What are you doing? Their unit has been closed for the past 5 years, do not expect them to dispose…”
Vaidyanathan said the company took permission to enter the unit and to take away everything and dispose of it. “What are all you doing? Aren’t you precipitating the whole issue?”, said Justice Pardiwala. The state’s counsel said they will give the company "one last chance". "That means, the unit is closed since 2018, now we are pointing the finger at you people, forget about them. They have always been like this....," said Justice Pardiwala. Vaidyanathan said the state reminded the company about this in 2022.
“These heaps (copper slags) at 11 different sites...been there for 5 years...what have you done for the past 5 years, from 2018-2024? You will again draw a sample from that and you will show us, look at the level of arsenic, level of mercury...." said Justice Pardiwala. Vaidyanathan said: "We take the hint that we should do it and then take costs from them".
During the hearing, the bench said an industry has to comply with the law and it cannot say that it will only comply with those provisions which authorities point out. “But when it is the closure of an industry, on the ground of violation then you have to point out what the violation is. Because you cannot close down the industry for undefined violation, as an investment has been made in the industry…violation has to be stated if you are closing an industry down”, the bench told the Tamil Nadu government counsel.
The state government stressed that the company sought renewal but the government declined. “This is renewal and when an industry has been established then they expect a renewal subject being compliant to the law. If you are denying renewal, then you must specify the grounds on which renewal was denied”, said the CJI. The bench said it is keen to know, after the court's 2013 decision, what is the position of the industry and what are the steps which were to be carried out by the industry.
The bench said the experts can look into this: post 2013, “can the operation of the industry be compliant with environmental standards by adopting remedial steps or is closure the only option? The approach of our court was closure only if remedial steps cannot be taken, if remedial steps can be taken don’t close ... .that was the view of this court”.
