Not a single note from TNPCB so far: Sterlite

Continuing his submission before the division bench comprising Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Bhavani Subbaroyan hearing the case, Aryama Sundaram emphasised that there is no allegation thatVedanta has not violated any applicable guidelines but Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) was merely justifying a pre-decisionof closure made for collateralpurposes.

From 2013 to the date of closure, Vedanta had not received even one notice from TNPCB stating that you are not complying with the guidelines and Vedanta has been furnishing monthly reports.

But the same TNPCB, which had declared that copper slag is not hazardous, is now finding reasons based on copper slag being a pollutant in a bid to toe the line of the political masters.

He also noted that an aura has been created that there is pollution from copper slag and arsenic, but the facts are entirely different, and the State has a bounden duty to tell the truth.

“It is beyond any pale of doubt that copper slag is non-hazardous. And if it is beyond any pale of doubt it is non-hazardous, it cannot be a source of pollution. And if it is not a case of pollution, it cannot be a case for closure of the Sterlite plant,” Aryama Sundaram argued.