Sterlite asked to deposit Rs. 100 crore with Collector

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Sterlite copper smelter plant to deposit within three months a compensation of Rs.100 crore with the Tuticorin Collector. A Bench of Justices A.K. Patnaik and H.L. Gokhale said this amount would be put in fixed deposit in a nationalised bank for a minimum of five years, renewable as and when it expired, and the interest would be spent on suitable measures for improvement of the environment after consultation with the TNPCB and approval of the Government of Tamil Nadu.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) on Saturday ordered closure of Sterlite Industries Ltd.’s copper smelter unit in Tuticorin, in the wake of alleged noxious gas leak from it. The TNPCB, under instructions from District Collector Ashish Kumar, issued a notice directing the Vedanta group company to close the plant, officials said.

Company officials said they have started shutting down the operations of the unit complying with the TNPCB order, which came a week after an unspecified gas allegedly leaked in the area on March 23.

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko on Tuesday strongly pleaded in the Supreme Court for a permanent closure of the copper smelting plant of Sterlite Industries at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu.

He made this submission before a Bench of Justices A.K. Patnaik and H.L. Gokhale, hearing an appeal filed by Sterlite Industries against a Madras High Court judgment directing closure of the plant. The Court in October 2010 had stayed the judgment and is now in the process of final hearing of the case.

Contraction in user-sectors like construction, power and industrial machinery will hurt