THE PROTEST THAT TURNED VIOLENT
On May 22 last year, the 100th day of protest against Sterlite Copper, a Vedanta group copper smelter unit, Thoothukudi, witnessed mayhem, with 13 people getting killed allegedly in police firing when a rally demanding the plant’s closure turned violent
Six days later, the Tamil Nadu government ordered the state pollution control board to seal and “permanently” close it
On December 15, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had set aside the state government’s order for closure of the plant, saying it was “non-sustainable” The state government had moved against the NGT order and said it had “erroneously” set aside various orders passed by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board On January 8 this year, the Supreme Court had stayed the order of the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court which had ruled for status quo with respect to re-opening the plant The Supreme Court also sought response from Vedanta on the state
bility, clean up and due compensations. Instead of contesting these in courts, the company could shows greater responsibility towards the affected people by acknowledging that there has been a failure of due diligence. The order also sets a precedence for any future challenges to closure notices that includes taking remedial action, and, if needed, invoking powers of pollution control appellate within the state,” said Kanchi Kohli, legal researcher at Centre for Policy Research (CPR).
Before the court, both Tamil Nadu government and the state pollution control board questioned NGT’S jurisdiction to entertain Sterlite Copper’s petition. Under the law, they said, the tribunal exercises appellate jurisdiction and cannot strike down government rules or regulations. Its orders, the two said, were not appealable either under the Water Act or the NGT Act and could only have been corrected in a judicial review in a petition filed before the high court or before a civil court.
Tamil Nadu ministers D Jayakumar and MC Sampath said the state government is firm in its decision to keep the plant closed as per the demand of the people.
Sterlite defended the NGT government’s appeal against the NGT order to reopen the plant On Monday, SC set aside National Green Tribunal’s order and said it has no jurisdiction to order reopening of the plant.
order and said as an expert tribunal, NGT was empowered to deal with all matters relating to the environment.
The Supreme Court agreed with Tamil Nadu. “It is clear that under the NGT Act, the Tribunal exercising appellate jurisdiction cannot strike down rules or regulations made under this Act. Therefore, it would be fallacious to state that the Tribunal has powers of judicial review akin to that of a High Court exercising constitutional powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India,” SC said in its verdict.
SC also found fault with NGT’S argument that in the absence of an appellate authority it can take over to hear cases filed directly before it against government orders. “This again, is an argument that cannot be countenanced... If an appellate authority is either not yet constituted, or not properly constituted, a leapfrog appeal to the NGT cannot be countenanced,” the court said.
Sandeep Nanduri, Collector of Thoothukudi, said: “Removal of waste from the Sterlite plant will be stopped. The plant will be closed permanently and no work will be done. The police force deployed near the plant will be gradually reduced.”