Madras HC halts Sterlite’s expansion in Thoothukudi
23 May 2018
The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has ordered a halt to the construction of the second unit of Vedanta Group’s Sterlite Copper plant at Thoothukudi after days of protests and yesterday’s police action that resulted in the death of at least 11 protestors (See: 11 killed as police open fire at anti-Sterlite protesters in TN's Thoothukudi).
The court order comes amidst a massive backlash against the use of force against protestors in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin on Tuesday, and forces once again resorting to firing that killed one and injured another two.The stay order on the construction of Sterlite's copper smelter plant comes after locals complained of massive groundwater pollution in the area.
A division bench of Justice Anitha Sumanth and Justice M Sundar hearing a public interest litigation against granting environmental clearance to Sterlite also directed the centre to hold public hearing before granting environment clearance to the plant within four months from now, ie, on or before 23 September 2018.
The PIL was filed by R Fatima of Thoothukudi against Sterlite's application for renewal of environmental clearance for the proposed second plant that would double its annual copper refining capacity to 800,000 tonnes.
The PIL claimed that Sterlite obtained environmental clearance from the ministry of environment and forests for the second copper smelter plant in 2009. This was subsequently renewed in 2015 and 2016 by ‘misrepresenting the project location being within a notified industrial area'.
However, the SIPCOT Industrial Estate Phase II in which the proposed copper smelter plant was to be commissioned was yet to obtain environmental clearance from authorities. Also no public hearing was conducted before environmental clearance was given to Sterlite, the petition pointed out.
The petition sought an injunction against commissioning of second copper plant and quashing of the environmental clearance granted by both the centre and the state government as they were against provisions of Environmental Protection Act, 1986.
Meanwhile, amidst massive backlash against the use of force against protestors in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin on Tuesday, forces once again resorted to firing live rounds — killing one and injuring two in the afternoon today.
While it is not clear if the person killed was among the protesting group, reports suggest police resorted to firing yet again.
Industry associations have criticised the anti-Sterlite protests as sponsored by vested interests.