Madras High Court posts Vedanta plea for reopening TN smelter on April 23

CHENNAI: The Madras high Court has posted for April 23 the plea filed by Vedanta Ltd challenging the Tamil Nadu Government's closure order of its four-lakh-tonne-a-year copper smelter in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, which was shuttered following violent local upheaval against the unit over environmental concerns.

A senior counsellor who appeared for Vedanta told ET: "The court has said it will take up the case on April 23. We had filed an additional affidavit saying lack of care and maintenance to the factory is causing harm to our equipment. That will also be taken up on the hearing," adding that several parties supporting the need for the reopening of the Vedanta factory. Counsellors with Vedanta said 151 impleading petitions have been filed by local contractors, selh help groups and others who had benefitted by the functioning of the Sterlite Copper factory.

Vedanta had moved the Madras High Court after the Supreme Court set aside an order given by the National Green Tribunal that reversed the Tamil Nadu Government's GO shutting down the factory. Earlier, the Green Tribunal had set up a committee headed by former high court judge Tarun Agrawal which found Vedanta' violations "not grievous enough" to warrant closure.


Politically, Sterlite Copper is being leveraged by opposition party DMK to take on the ruling AIADMK-BJP front ahead of the Parliamentary Polls. Kanimozhi, daughter of late DMK Patriarch M Karunanidhi, is contesting for the Thoothukudi Parliamentary Constituency, pegged against state BJP Leader Tamilisai Soundararajan. According to a member of Kamimozhi's campaig team, the Sterlite Copper controversy and the death of 13 people in the protests against the factory on May 22, 2018, are an important aspect of the DMK Leader's campaign.