The Supreme Court has junked the review petition filed by Vedanta Limited against the court’s earlier dismissal of its plea seeking reopening of its Sterlite copper smelter plant in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district. The order was passed on October 22 by the then Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra and it was made public on Saturday, November 16. The top court had, on February 29, dismissed Vedanta’s appeal challenging the Madras High Court’s decision in 2020 to close down the plant.

In a short judgement, the three-judge bench said that the application seeking to list the review petition in open court was rejected. “Having perused the review petitions, there is no error apparent on the face of the record. No case for review… has been established. The review petitions are, therefore, dismissed,” the order read.

Any person who is aggrieved by a judgement can file a review petition within 30 days of the judgement, as per the Civil Procedure Code and the Supreme Court Rules. The Supreme Court only reviews a judgement if it fulfils certain conditions: mistake or error apparent on the face of record; discovery of new evidence; or any reason equivalent to these two. Review petitions are usually considered without oral arguments and by circulation among the judges in chambers and only by the same combination of judges who delivered the original judgement.

On February 29, the same three-judge bench dismissed Vedanta’s plea saying, “We are conscious of the nature of contribution of the company to the area. However, the court has to be mindful of the principle of sustainable development and health and welfare of the residents of the area is a matter of utmost concern.” The court also added that the closure of the industry was not actually a matter of first choice but because of the repeated nature of breaches, coupled with the severity of the violations is what prompted the court to reach the decision.

Vedanta has gone to court multiple times. It had claimed that the Sterlite plant “has been steeply deteriorating” since it has been “lying shut since May 2018”. It further claimed that “massive corrosion has occurred leading to the collapse of the structures and critical assets due to lack of regular maintenance and rain water accumulation.” In 2018, Thoothukudi residents had organised a 100-day protest against the plant alleging environmental pollution since the 1990s. Thirteen civilians were shot dead during the agitation on the 100th day.