WORLD NEWS

Nearly five years after the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) downed shutters on the Sterlite Copper smelting -plant in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, for pollution, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court suggested the setting up of an expert panel to examine the timelines and the conditions to restart operations. The court was hearing the appeal of the Vedanta group that owns the Sterlite plant, challenging the Madras High Court order upholding the direction of the TNPCB to shut down the plant.

The expert panel, the Supreme Court argued will investigate the issue whether the industry can operate in compliance with environmental standards by adopting remedial steps or is closure the only option. “Are these violations such that they have had an irretrievable impact on the environment so that they can never be remedied? Which means they have to close down the industry. Or are these capable of remediation and if so, what?” said the Chief Justice of India, Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, who was heading the three-member bench. Opposing the suggestion, Senior Counsel C S Vaidyanathan, who appeared for the TN government, said that since the high court had already gone into the matter and the expert body cannot sit in judgment over the HC’s finding.” But the CJI did not agree and said, “It will not be outsourcing to an expert committee. We are not going to dispose it off and leave everything to the committee.”

By ordering the setting up of an expert committee, the Supreme court is trying to find a middle ground between corporate and public interests, acknowledging the importance of the copper industry and the concerns of the local community, while keeping in mind Tuticorin’ s history of environmental disasters.

While the apex court’s decision has come as a sigh of relief to the company’s 1,053 supply service partners, employing 2 lakh people and conducting business worth Rs 1256 crore, when the Sterlite plant was operational. Similarly, more than 400 downstream players comprising of industries such as refined copper, sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid, cement, gypsum and slag, employing lakhs of people are keeping their fingers crossed, hoping for an early restart to begin their own operations again.

People opposed to the plant are yet again trying to mobilise forces to disrupt the ground with yet another agitation. However, it is observed that the support voices for the company have been on the rise with the larger public in Tuticorin realising the economic vacuum due to the Plant’s shut down finds the Supreme Court decision the way forward for sustainable development. Operationalising the plant would also be a boon for the nation to help meet 36% of the country’s primary copper requirement and cater to 50% of domestic requirement of winding wire industry not to forget the benefits to the state and national exchequer. While making it abundantly clear that company must comply with the existing laws and environmental norms, the three-member bench said that the Tamil Nadu authorities should have specified the violations for closing an industry.

“When you seek to close down an industry on the ground that there is a violation, then you have to point out what the violation is. You cannot say that I will close down the industry for undefined violations.” Closure of an industry, without specifying the violation in “clearer terms”, affects the investments made, said the Supreme Court in an earlier hearing on February 22, 2024 against shutting down of a smelting plant in Thoothukudi.

The Supreme Court added that if the TN authorities felt that the company cannot be trusted, the court can impose conditions on them by way of deposit in an escrow account to be operated by the Union Ministry of Environment or TNPCB or Central Pollution Control Board to ensure that if they don’t abide by their obligation, their bank guarantee will be revoked.

The apex court also pulled up the Tamil Nadu government for not taking steps to remove the copper slag from the company’s smelting plant in 11 sites, which the state claimed was polluting the soil and groundwater sources in Tuticorin, even five years after the plant was shut down. The Court further asked them “What have you all done in the past 5 years, from 2018 to 2024?” Thus, it is clear that the job of managing environmental pollution and bringing sustainable development for the betterment of people’s lives and livelihood is the collective responsibility of both the government and the private sector. There is clear need to list out effective steps for the treatment of effluents and corporate need to take effective steps in this direction. It is equally important for the state government to provide support facilitating support.

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