MADURAI
A petition was moved before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday against commissioning of a copper smelter unit by Sterlite Industries in Thoothukudi.
A division bench of Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and R. Hemalatha directed notice to State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) and Sterlite Industries and posted the case for further hearing to April 24.
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The petitioner, S.P. Muthuraman of Tirunelveli, said Sterlite Industries was commissioning a copper smelter unit at Therkku Veera Pandiyapuram and Meelavittan villages in Thoothukudi under a lease deed executed by SIPCOT.
He claimed that 654.42 hectares of land had been acquired by SIPCOT for the purpose and work on the unit had commenced without obtaining mandatory clearances like environment clearance under Environment (Protection ) Act, 1986; ‘Consent to establish’ and ‘Consent to operate’ certificates, besides layout plan approval from the Directorate of Town and Country Planning.
The petitioner claimed that he came to know of this from information obtained from SIPCOT, Sterlite Industries and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change through the Right to Information Act.
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He said the unit would cause health hazards to the public and sought an injunction against the commissioning of the unit and cancellation of the lease deed executed in favour of Sterlite Industries.