Mining major Vedanta Ltd has moved to the Supreme Court, challenging the Madras High Court's refusal to order reopening of Sterlite's copper smelting plant at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu.
On August 18, the Madras High Court refused to allow the reopening of Vedanta Ltd owned Sterlite Copper's Smelting plant in Thoothukudi and dismissed all the 10 petitions filed by the company.
The Madras HC had, on August 18, refused to allow the reopening of Sterlite copper smelting plant, which has remained shut since April 2018. The court dismissed the plea filed by Vedanta challenging the closure of the plant.
The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) had, on April 9, 2018, rejected the renewal of consent to operate the plant, and the state government ordered the closure of the plant after 13 people were shot dead by the police on May 22, during a protest against the plant.
While the company said it was a knee-jerk reaction by the state administration, the Tamil Nadu government alleged that the plant had violated environment laws.
The company also said it is incurring a losss of about Rs 5 crore every day. A back-of-the-envelope calculation discloses a cumulative loss of Rs 3,500-4,000 crore, as the factory has been shut the past 800 days.