The Tamil Nadu government on Monday challenged a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order allowing mining major Vedanta Ltd. access to the administrative unit of the Sterlite copper plant at Thoothukudi.
The State argued that the interim order passed by the NGT was against various provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
It contended that the NGT “failed to note that an order passed by the State government under Section 18 (1)(b) of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, is not appealable before the NGT as per the statute”.
The State, represented by advocate Yogesh Kanna, argued that the matter before the NGT “pertains to civil disputes relating to the environment and not a policy decision taken by the State of Tamil Nadu”.
The tribunal’s Principal Bench, led by its chairperson, Justice A.K. Goel, had specifically barred the company from accessing the production unit and directed the district magistrate to ensure the same.
The State’s move in the Supreme Court comes even as a successive hearing in the case is due on August 20.
The Tamil Nadu government had argued that the NGT had failed to note that the company “had approached various forum [sic] i.e., the Appellate Authority, the TNPCB and the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court,” and therefore, “the present composite appeal is not maintainable in law”.
“The NGT failed to note that the order dated April 9, 2018, was the basic order which dealt with the rejection of the application of the Respondent (company) herein, and that all subsequent orders were merely ministerial acts. It is a settled legal proposition that challenge to consequential order without challenging the basic order/statutory provision on the basis of which the order has been passed cannot be entertained,” the State argued.
The tribunal had already rejected the State’s challenge to its jurisdiction, observing that it would hear the case on merits.
