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| Vedanta plant at Lanjigarh. Telegraph picture |
Cuttack, Feb. 28: Orissa High Court today reserved the judgment on the dispute over the eligibility of Vedanta Aluminum Limited (VAL) to become a beneficiary of Union ministry of environment and forest’s (MoEF) “Office Memorandum” of November 16, 2010, that provided a method of regularising the violation of environmental clearance rules.
The two-judge bench of Chief Justice V. Gopal Gowda and Justice B.N. Mohapatra closed hearing in the case after assistant solicitor general Saktidhar Das presented his arguments justifying the MoEF’s order for submission of a fresh proposal by VAL for obtaining environmental clearance for the expansion of alumina refinery from 1 million ton per annum (MPTA) to 6 MTPA and the captive power plant from 75 MW to 300 MW at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district.
“The process for environmental clearance for the expansion has to be started de novo as the appraisal process had not been completed for the 1 MTPA alumina refinery and 75 MW captive power plant,” the assistant solicitor general said while filing a fresh counter affidavit on behalf of MoEF today.
The fresh counter affidavit was filed in response to VAL’s allegation that MoEF was adopting a partisan approach in adoption of its method of regularising the violation of environmental clearance rules. VAL had made the allegation citing the case of Lavasa Corporation Limited, Pohang Steel Company and Jindal Power Limited in a rejoinder filed to a counter affidavit filed by it earlier.
“The cases stand on a footing quite different than the case of VAL,” MoEF contended.
According to the counter affidavit, MoEF had, on August 31, 2010, issued a showcause notice to VAL under section 5 of Environment Protection Act, 1986, for revocation of environmental clearance in view of non-compliance of the conditions stipulated while granting environmental clearance to one MTPA alumina refinery and 75 MW captive power plant.
After the receipt of reply and a personal hearing, MoEF had, on October 20, 2010, directed VAL to submit un-revocable bank guarantee for an amount of Rs 10 crore valid for a period of three years within 15 days to the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), Orissa, for the implementation of all environmental protection measures.
“In the case of VAL, the stage of referring the case to the competent authority for approval has not reached because in the case of VAL, the appraisal process was not completed and as such the circular of November 16, 2010, is not applicable,” the counter affidavit contended.
“The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) revision would be required in the light of the environment impacts that have been caused due to the activities, which have been undertaken without incorporation of necessary environmental mitigation measures. The proposal for expansion from 1-6MTPA has to be revised based on the suggestions of the expert appraisal committee (EAC) and the sub-committee which visited the site. The proposal of VAL, therefore, needs to be submitted afresh for environmental clearance under the provisions of EIA Notification, 2006,” the affidavit contended.
MoEF had, on October 20, 2010, withdrawn the terms of reference (TOR) issued on March 12, 2009, for the expansion of the alumina refinery from 1-6MTPA and Captive Power Plant from 75-300MW and consequently cancelled the public hearing on it, while directing to maintain status quo at the site in respect to going ahead with construction before getting environmental clearance for it.
Initially, VAL had filed a writ petition in Orissa High Court challenging the order to halt its expansion plans. Subsequently, VAL had filed an amended petition seeking inclusion of a plea for direction for considering the application filed by it under the “Office Memorandum” issued by MoEF on November 16, 2010.