The Madras High Court on Monday wanted to know the status of a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe ordered by it into the police firing that claimed as many as 13 lives and left many injured during the protests against Sterlite copper smelting plant in Thoothukudi on May 22 and 23, 2018.
Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and V. Bhavani Subbaroyan also sought to know by Tuesday the progress made by a Commission of Inquiry, constituted by the State government under the chairmanship of former Madras High Court judge Aruna Jagadeesan, to inquire into the circumstances that led to the firing.
The questions were raised during the hearing of a batch of 10 writ petitions filed by natural resources company Vedanta Limited, which owns the copper smelting plant, challenging various proceedings including the government’s decision to close down the plant permanently following environmental concerns.
After the conclusion of arguments advanced on behalf of the plant, the court began hearing senior counsel R. Vaigai, N.G.R. Prasad, Balan Haridoss, T. Mohan and A. Yogeshwaran representing various activists opposed to the plant. The counsel had broached the subject of the firing during the course of hearing.
The court was told that the government had constituted a Commission of Inquiry immediately after the violent incident and a Division Bench of Justices C.T. Selvam and A.M. Basheer Ahamed (since retired) had ordered a CBI probe into the firing on August 14, 2018 while disposing of a batch of cases.
Wondering what the stage of those inquiries was, the Bench led by Justice Sivagnanam asked the government counsel to ascertain their status by Tuesday.
