Sterlite moves SC against Madras HC order

Sterlite Industries today moved the Supreme Court against the Madras High Court order that directed the company to shut down its copper smelting plant at Tuticorin for not complying with the environmental norms.

It has calimed that the high court did not give it a proper hearing and ignored its submissions.

The group company of UK-based Vedanta Group filed a special leave petition against the order, which had on September 28 directed the firm to close down its copper smelting plant.

Sterlite's case would be mentioned tomorrow before a Bench comprising Justices R V Raveendran and H L Gokhale.

The Madras High Court had held that Sterlite's plant was within 25 km of an ecologically fragile area and the company has failed to develop a green belt of 250 metre width around the plant.

The order came a month after the Vedanta Group's Rs 7,000 crore bauxite mining project at Niyamgiri hills in Orissa was denied environmental clearance. The company was also issued a show cause notice by the Ministry of Environment and Forests for allegedly flouting green norms.

"The materials on record show that the continuing air pollution being caused by the noxious effluents discharged into the air by the respondent company is having a more devastating effect on the people living in the surroundings," the order said.

It was also seen that there has been unabated pollution by Sterlite, which should be stopped at least now by allowing these writ petitions so as to protect the mother nature from being 'tarred', the judges said.

The judges also noted that the plant was set up amid protests from people of different sections at Tuticorin and widespread agitations to stop its erection and subsequently insisting on its closure.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) had granted permission to Sterlite to run a unit to manufacture 391 MT of blister copper and 1,060 tonnes of sulphuric acid.

The court pointed out that no objection certificate was issued by TNPCB to the company on the condition that it would develop a green belt of 250 metre width around the 'battery limits' of the industry.

"But the company has submitted a representation to the TNPCB requesting to reduce the requirement of green belt from 250 metre to the width of 10-15 metre around the plant, since the development of the green belt of 250 meter width requires a land of around 150 acres," the Bench said.