The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday moved the Supreme Court challenging the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) decision to constitute an “independent and credible” committee led by former Punjab and Haryana Chief Justice S.J. Vazifdar to look into the State’s closure of the Sterlite copper plant in Thoothukudi.
The State, represented by advocate Yogesh Kanna, said the NGT set aside the challenge raised by it about the maintainability of Sterlite’s petition in the tribunal and constituted this three-member panel to “go into the material produced by the parties on issues of environmental compliance as well as impact on inhabitants as perceived or actual”.
Besides Justice Vazifdar, the committee is composed of representatives from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. The State said the tribunal failed to note that the orders of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control (TNPCB) Board as well as the Tamil Nadu government cannot be set aside without assigning any reason on merits.
“The tribunal is not vested with the plenary jurisdiction and is required to discharge its functions strictly as per the provisions of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010,” the Tamil Nadu petition argued. The petition said the tribunal failed to appreciate the report provided by TNPCB stating that the ground water samples collected at eight locations in and around the Copper Smelter plant of M/s Vedanta Limited revealed that level of TDS was “very high”.
The report had details of the industries located within the Sipcot industrial complex and their discharges that were responsible for the district’s pollution.