On Tuesday, the Madras High Court dismissed the plea made by Vedanta Limited. The plea was with regard to the reopening of its controversial Sterlite Copper plant in Tuticorin. However, the Madras HC has decried that it will stay shut.
The public has been rejoicing on the verdict by the court. The plant was shut in 2018 after 13 civilians were shot in a police firing as they protested the environmental norms flouted by the plant.
Sterlite copper plant won't reopen says HC
A two-judge bench of justice TS Shivagnanam and Bhavani Subbaroyan at the Madras High Court in Tamil Nadu heard the plea on Tuesday. Vedanta Limited appealed in the High Court following the May 2018 order, to close down their Sterlite copper plant in Tuticorin.
The state government had ordered the plant be shut following environmental norms being broken by the plant. The plant was under the scanner of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. When protests broke out in Tuticorin over the matter, which continued for 100 days, 13 civilians were shot by the police on 22nd May 2018.
The move by the Madras High Court to keep the copper plant has been very well-received. It is reported that some members of political parties even burst crackers on the occasion in the state along with citizens of Thoothukudi.
Vedanta however, might move Supreme Court following this verdict. The 2-judge bench said that the verdict would have been delivered earlier had it not been for the pandemic. The closure of the plant, however, was known to have an impact on the economy and that people who were working at the plant lost their jobs.
