'Can't allow reopening of plant straightaway'

{TN-VEDANTA CASE}'ALSO NEED TO PROTECT VOICELESS,' SAYS TOP COURT

- Utkarsh Anand

The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that it could not straightaway allow the reopening of Vedanta's Sterlite copper smelting plant in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi as it must also protect the "voiceless people" and the "well-being of the community living in the area." "We have to protect the health of the people and their welfare. They are voiceless people. They all cannot come here.

We have a duty towards protecting their well-being. We cannot be oblivious of the wider concerns of the community there... The sequitur arising for you to start operations cannot be there. If we take upon ourselves and reject the high court order and three years later, we see that there is a leak then imagine the moral responsibility will be on us," said a bench led by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud.