4 months ago
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The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has refused to contented a ‘Consent to Operate’ (CTO) to multinational concern conglomerate Vedanta Limited for establishing a ‘Green Copper’ plant connected the Thoothukudi Sterlite works premises, which has remained non-functional since 2018. The institution has, therefore, approached the Madras High Court with a plea to quash the rejection order.
Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan connected Wednesday (February 11, 2026) directed Additional Advocate General (AAG) J. Ravindran to get instructions by February 26 regarding the constitution of an adept committee to survey the anticipation of permitting the ‘Green Copper’ facility. Vedanta had submitted an exertion to the TNPCB connected January 9, seeking the CTO but the Board had rejected it connected January 27.
Assailing the rejection order, elder counsel Satish Parasaran, assisted by Rahul Balaji, contended that the exertion had been rejected successful an arbitrary mode without providing beforehand announcement oregon an accidental for proceeding to his client. “This reflects a pre-determined and prejudicial attack towards the petitioner and therefore, the rejection bid is ex-facie arbitrary, illegal, and untenable,” helium argued.
In bid to guarantee a just and impartial adjudication of Vedanta’s applications/proposal for establishing the ‘Green Copper’ facility, the counsel urged the Bench to bid the constiution of a court-monitored multidisciplinary adept committee, comprising representatives of the State authorities arsenic good arsenic the Centre, on with autarkic experts successful applicable fields, to analyse the connection independently, comprehensively, and scientifically.
Until the disposal of its main writ petition, Vedanta besides sought an interim absorption to the TNPCB to licence the petitioner to person constricted and conditional entree to the Sterlite copper installation successful Thoothukudi truthful that it could transportation retired preparatory and operational activities for the technological assessment. The interim activities could besides beryllium supervised, monitored, and controlled by a court-appointed committee, it said.
On the different hand, opposing the writ petition filed by Vedanta, the AAG said: “They are trying to determination aged vino into a caller vessel and telephone it Green Copper.” He said, the institution ought to person gone connected statutory entreaty against the board’s bid alternatively of filing a writ petition. He besides stated that extortion of situation was much important than the economical aspects, which the institution was stressing upon.
However, Mr. Parasaran said, lone a committee comprising of experts from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, the Central Pollution Control Board, and specified different bodies would beryllium capable to springiness autarkic thought to the proposal. “If the experts accidental that the manufacture should perish, fto it perish. But if they accidental it tin beryllium revived, fto it beryllium revived. Let the TNPCB not attack the contented with a chromatic wall,” helium added.
Vedanta’s affidavit
In its affidavit, Vedanta contended that the TNPCB’s rejection bid does not bespeak immoderate genuine statutory valuation of the ‘Green Copper’ proposal, but rests connected a fundamentally “flawed” premise that past regulatory actions and earlier judicial proceedings foreclose adjacent the information of a re-engineered and environmentally superior facility.
The institution claimed that the TNPCB had failed to instrumentality enactment the captious nationalist arsenic good arsenic planetary request for copper, its presumption arsenic a strategical resource, and the increasing inclination of assets nationalism. It said, the ‘Green Copper’ installation would assistance augment home copper production, portion prioritising sustainability since the eco-friendly process would beryllium chiseled from erstwhile copper-smelting processes.
Vedanta besides pointed retired that it had filed a writ petition successful January this year seeking a absorption to the State authorities to see its ‘Green Copper’ proposal, which would utilise an environmentally superior process designed to beryllium an exemplar of sustainable and liable industry. While passing interim orders successful that petition, the tribunal had permitted the institution to taxable applications to statutory authorities.
Therefore, Vedanta had applied to the TNPCB for the issuance of a CTO connected January 9 but it was rejected connected January 27, forcing the radical to record a caller writ petition challenging the rejection order.
What is ‘Green Copper’?
Explaining the benefits of ‘Green Copper,’ the institution told the tribunal that the word refers to copper produced with a importantly little c footprint successful examination with accepted smelting processes. The simplification would beryllium achieved by maximising the usage of recycled copper arsenic input. “Using recycled copper minimises the request for copper ore processing, which was the superior root of slag procreation successful smelting operation,” it said.
Apart from the projected simplification of 15% successful slag generation, astir 40% of reducation was expected successful hazardous discarded generation, too. Through the utilisation of 30% recycled input, the projected greenish copper works was projected to execute 34% simplification successful c footprint due to the fact that little fossil substance would beryllium consumed successful the energy-intensive smelting and converting processes, Vedanta claimed.
“Furthermore, round-the-clock renewable vigor volition beryllium utilised for hybrid operations. The suspension of the phosphoric acerb works and adoption of precocious aerial and h2o absorption technologies volition further minimise biology interaction and alteration the institution to nutrient copper cathode with little than 0.9 kg of CO₂ emissions per kg of copper, i.e., astir 50% little than the planetary average,” its affidavit read.
