NGT appoints S J Vazifdar committee to decide Vedanta’s plea challenging closure of its Sterlite plant

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has appointed former Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice S J Vazifdar as head of a 3-member committee to decide mining company Vedanta Limited’s plea challenging the Tamil Nadu government’s order to close the Sterlite copper plant at Thoothukudi. The committee may, if necessary, visit the site and consider the technical data and take a decision as early as found viable preferably within 6 weeks after it assumes it’s working. Recently, on 9th August 2018, the Tribunal had allowed Vedanta to access the administrative unit inside its Sterlite copper plant at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu. Though, the plant would remain closed and the company would not have access to its production unit and directed the district magistrate to ensure this. In March 2013, Sterlite’s factory came into limelight when a gas leak led to the death of one person and injuries to several others, after which then chief minister J Jayalalithaa had ordered its closure.