Vedanta moves Supreme Court seeking permission to reopen of Sterlite Copper Plant

New Delhi, Aug 26: Vedanta on Wednesday moved to the Supreme Court challenging the Madras High court's order, which had rejected Vedanta's plea seeking permission to reopen Sterlite Copper Plant at Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu.

Earlier, the Madras High Court had denied permission to reopen Vedanta's south Indian copper smelter, more than two years after it was closed because of pollution concerns that triggered violent protests in the area.

It can be seen that the state government ordered the smelter to be closed a week after as many as 13 people died when anti-pollution demonstrations turned violent and police opened fire at unarmed protesters.

On August 18, the Madras High Court dismissed a plea by the company seeking the smelter's reopening. "The doctrine of sustainable development, the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle needs to be applied," the court said.

Tens of thousands of locals stormed the streets of Thoothukudi in south India on May 22, 2018, accusing Vedanta of polluting the environment. Police said they opened fire as they were overwhelmed. The subsequent violence claimed 13 lives over two days and injured more than a hundred people.

Vedanta has denied accusations of pollution, and called the decision to shut its plant a political response to the outrage over the police firing.