The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed an appeal by Vedanta Sterlite to reopen its Thoothukudi copper plant closed six years ago on grounds of pollution, endorsing the public’s right to health over sheer industry gains.
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud upheld a Madras High Court decision of August 2020, which had confirmed the decisions of the Tamil Nadu government and the State Pollution Control Board to permanently shut down the plant in 2018.
The court said the closure of an industry was never a first choice. But the long and repeated breaches coupled with serious violations by Vedanta had left the High Court and the statutory authorities no other option but to bring the curtain down on the Thoothukudi plant. Anything else would have been sheer obliviousness of their plain duty to the public, the court noted.
