The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by Vedanta Group for reopening the company's copper smelting plant in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi for maintenance, calling it "frivolous".
A bench of Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman and Vineet Saran, however, gave liberty to the group to approach the Madras High Court with its plea for reopening the plant.
The apex court had on February 18 set aside a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order of December 15, 2018, which had allowed the firm to reopen the plant.
It had said the NGT did not have jurisdiction to entertain Vedanta's appeal against the Tamil Nade government's decision to close the plant.
Thirteen people were killed last year when police opened fire during a protest against environmental pollution allegedly caused by the plant.
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