India court pours cold water on Vedanta plan to restart copper plant
The state government shuttered the Vedanta smelter in May 2018 after 13 people died when police shot at protesting villagers
New Delhi/Mumbai— Vedanta, controlled by billionaire Anil Agarwal, suffered a setback after India’s top court stalled the resumption of operations at its 400,000 tonne-a-year copper smelter in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. On Monday, the supreme court overturned the green tribunal’s order in December to restart the plant, saying the National Green Tribunal did not have the jurisdiction to decide on the matter. It said the company could approach the state high court for restarting the plant. Vedanta will approach the high court in Tamil Nadu for an “urgent hearing” as early as possible, P Ramnath, CEO of the copper unit, said in a phone interview. “We have to get the actual details in it and based on that we will plan our next course of action.” The Mumbai-based company had stopped operations for maintenance in March 2018 and later extended the closure in the face of mounting opposition from villagers against pollution caused by the plant. The state government shuttered the smelt...
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