National Trust for Clean Environment and ors. Vs. Union of India and Ors.

These writ petitions have been filed challenging and questioning the establishment of the Copper Smelting Plant at Thoothukudi by Sterlite Industries (India) Limited by various organisations or representatives of recognised political parties. The petitioners included Chennai-based National Trust for Clean Environment, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam General Secretary, Mr Vaiko, the Tuticorin district unit of the Communist Party of India, and the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU). Writ petitions were filed in the year 1996 - 1998 in the Madras High Court challenging the Environmental clearance and against the setting up of the Copper Smelting Plant at Tuticorin. The High Court vide its interim Order dated 30 April 1999 permitted the Company to operate the plant at its rated capacity. The company has been running the plant since then after getting requisite approvals from the State Pollution Control Board and the concerned Regulatory Authorities. The company was given permission to produce 391 tonnes of blister copper and 1,060 tonnes of sulphuric acid. The petitioners had pointed out that though the company originally wanted to set up its plant in Ratnagiri, the Maharashtra Government had cancelled the licence owing to stiff opposition from the people. The Madras High Court ordered the immediate closure of Sterlite's copper smelting plant in Tamil Nadu over claims of the company's smelter unit causing air pollution and the plant's close proximity to ecologically sensitive areas. This decision was taken due to voluminous material available on record about the negative impact of running of the industry at the place and in the manner it is being run. The judges made it clear that the employees were entitled to compensation from the company under Section 25 FFF of the Industrial Disputes Act. Explaining the reasons for revoking the licence granted to the company's unit, the judges said: "The materials on record show that the continuing air pollution being caused by the noxious effluents discharged into air by the company is having a devastating effect on the people living in the surroundings. There has been unabated pollution by the respondent company, which should be stopped at least now so as to protect the Mother Nature…". While the company wanted the court to take into consideration a favourable report submitted by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) in 2003, the judges said a subsequent report by NEERI in 2005 made clear that the waste from the company had high concentration of heavy metals, arsenic and fluorides. The pathetic condition that has been recorded by NEERI in its report is that the plant site itself is severely polluted and the ground samples present levels of arsenic which indicate that the whole site may be classified as hazardous waste according to Indian standards. Groundwater samples taken from the vicinity of the deposit site show elevated levels of copper, chrome, lead, cadmium and arsenic. The judges said that according to the NEERI report the company was located within 25 km of Gulf of Mannar, which was declared a National Park in 1986. In fact, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), while granting permission to the company, had stipulated that its location should be 25 km from any ecologically sensitive area. The judges said that the sole violation of erecting the plant within the prohibited area of ecologically sensitive area is sufficient for the Central Government to reject the proposal of the company.