Non-Reportable

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

SPECIAL LEAVE PETTION (C) NOs.28116-28123 OF 2010    

Sterlite Industries (I) Ltd. Etc. Etc.                  … Petitioners

Versus

Union of India & Ors. Etc. Etc.                     … Respondents

O R D E R

A. K. PATNAIK, J.

We have heard Mr. C.A. Sundram, learned counsel for  

the  petitioners,  Mr.  Vaiko  in-person for  respondent  no.1,  

Mr.  V.  Prakash, learned counsel  for  the respondent no.2,  

Mr. Guru Krishna Kumar, learned Additional A.G. for the  

Government  of  Tamil  Nadu,  Mr.  Subramanium  Prasad,  

learned counsel for the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board,  

and  Mr.  Vijay  Panjwani,  learned  counsel  for  the  Central  

Pollution Control Board.

2. The High Court has by the impugned judgment  inter   

alia directed  that  the  industrial  unit  of  the  petitioner  be

closedown  immediately  because  of  the  environmental  

pollution caused by the industrial unit.   On 01.10.2010,  

this Court directed that the matter be listed on 18.10.2010  

and stayed the impugned judgment of  the High Court till  

then.   On  18.10.2010,  the  Court  issued  notice  and  

continued the interim stay.  The Court has continued the  

interim stay from time to time.  

3. When the  matter  was  taken  up  on  25.02.2011,  the  

Court after hearing learned counsel for the parties was of  

the  view  that  an  independent  assessment  of  the  present  

situation  and  condition  of  the  industrial  unit  of  the  

petitioners,  and its  effect  with reference to environmental  

pollution by National Environmental Engineering Research  

Institute (NEERI), after a joint inspection with the officials of  

Central  Pollution  Control  Board,  Tamil  Nadu  Pollution  

Control Board and the PIL petitioners before the High Court,  

will help the Court to arrive at a decision and accordingly  

directed  NEERI  to  make  a  pollution  and  environmental  

impact  assessment  and  submit  its  report.   Accordingly,  

NEERI  carried  out  the  inspection  during  6th to  8th April,  

2011 and 19th to 22nd April, 2011 and submitted its report.

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4. On  18.07.2011,  the  Court  directed  the  Tamil  Nadu  

Government as also the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board  

to submit their comments/suggestions with reference to the  

NEERI report so that the Court can have a clear view about  

the  existing  position.   On  25.08.2011,  the  Court  after  

perusing  the  Status  Report  of  the  Tamil  Nadu  Pollution  

Control  Board  directed  the  Tamil  Nadu Pollution  Control  

Board  to  file  a  synopsis  specifying  the  deficiencies  with  

reference to the NEERI report and suggest control measures  

that should be taken by the petitioners so that the Court  

can  consider  the  direction  to  be  issued  for  remedial  

measures  which  can  be  monitored  by  the  Tamil  Nadu  

Pollution Control Board.  

5. The  Tamil  Nadu  Pollution  Control  Board  has  filed  

along  with  an  affidavit  dated  30.08.2011,  a  Chart  of  

deficiencies  and  measures  to  be  implemented  by  the  

petitioners-industry which is to the following effect:

“ Sl.No Deficiency Measures Suggested I To improve the  

emission  control  efficiency in  the process  

(1) Hoods with extraction system  are  to  be  installed  for  collection of fugitive emission  at  (i)  smelter  lance,  (ii)  smelter  feed  port,  (iii)  rotary  

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section holding  furnace-slag  granulation  &  (iv)  matte  tapping and to be connected  to the  control  measures.   In  view  of  the  above  additional  emission  load,  the  emission  control  measures  of  scrubbing  system  has  to  be  enhanced.

(2) One bag house at smelter is  to  be  installed  prior  to  scrubber,  to  control  dust  emission.

(3) One bag house at converter is  to  be  installed  prior  to  scrubber,  to  control  dust  emission.

(4) Regulative  measure  for  periodical  soot  blowing  operation  in  waste  heat  recovery  boiler  is  to  be  implemented  to  prevent  sudden emission load of soot  particulates.

II To improve  fugitive  emission  control

(1) Ducts to collect all the fugitive  emission and control measure  of  flue  gas  desulphurization  system consisting of bag filter  and 2 stage lime scrubber are  to  be  provided,  as  per  the  engineering study carried out.

(2) Gypsum conveyor belt is to be  made  fully  closed  so  as  to  prevent fugitive emissions.

(3) The unpaved roads within the  

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industry  premises  should  be  pave  to  control  the  dust  due  to movement of vehicles.

(4) The  frequency  of  water  sprinkling  on  roads  is  to  be  increased to 4 times per shift  to  reduce  the  re-suspended  dust  particles  due  to  movement of vehicles.

(5) Permanent  water  sprinklers  are to be provided at gypsum  pond area and roc phosphate  area.

III To improve  effluent  treatment  operation

(1) The  chemical  treatment  comprising  coagulation- flocculation  and settling  is  to be operated effectively to  optimize  the  treatment  efficiency so as to improve  the performance of fluoride  remove.

(2) The  existing  reverse  osmosis  plant  is  to  be  operated  to  the  maximum  capacity  of  1,600 kiloliters  per day and maintained so  as  to  recover,  recycle  and  reuse the permeate.

(3) Iron  removal  plant  as  a  pretreatment  facility  to  reverse  osmosis  system  is  to  be  installed  for  sustaining  the  membrane  life and achieving optimum  membrane performance.

IV To improve (1) The evaporation system along  

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disposal of  rejects arising  from effluent  treatment  Plant

with  drying  facility  must  be  expanded to cope up with the  capacity  of  the  reverse  osmosis  plant  and  improved  to generate the concentrate in  solid form.

(2) The  reverse  osmosis  rejects  stored  in  the  temporary  storage ponds must be taken  for  concentration  and  drying  followed  by  disposal  in  secured landfill facility.

(3) The temporary storage ponds  provided  for  disposal  of  reverse osmosis  rejects  must  be  removed,  in  view  of  capacity  augmentation  of  evaporator system.

V To improve raw  material  storage and  handling

(1) The  raw  material  of  copper  concentrate is to be stored in  a closed shed and received &  transferred  in  closed  conveyor system.

(2) All  the  chemical  storage  tanks are to be provided with  dykes to avoid the possibility  of any accidental discharge.

VI To improve  storm water  drainage and  collection  system

(1) The deposited silt in the storm  water drains is to be removed  and  disposed  off  in  secured  landfill  facility  and this  is  to  be  practiced  regularly  to  prevent  any  pollutant  carryover  and to  avoid  water  logging.

(2) Additional rainwater collection  reservoir with storage capacity  

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of  30,000-50,000 cubicmeter,  is  to  be  provided  to  prevent  discharge  of  runoff  from  the  critical  storage/process  plant  areas,  during  peak  precipitation,  taking  into  consideration  of  the  recent  updated  meteorological  data  and  maximum  industrial  utilization.

VII To improve  solid waste  disposal

(1) The sold waste of slag is to be  stored  within  the  stipulated  10  hectares  of  land  with  a  restricted  stacking  height  of  12  meters  so  as  to  adhere  with  the  safe  load  bearing  capacity of 25 metric ton per  square  meter  of  the  underlying  soil/land  in  that  area.

(2) The slag is to be disposed for  beneficial  uses,  such as road  formation,  shot  blasting,  abrasive  production,  cement  aggregate  making  and  other  relevant  areas  of  application,  with approval from concerned  agencies.  The  monthly  disposal must be at least 50%  more  than  the  monthly  generation  quantities  of  both  slag and gypsum.

VIII To improve  monitoring of  air  quality,  effluent and  water  consumption

(1) Additional  electromagnetic  flow meters (12 Nos.) are to be  provided  to  assess  (i)  raw  water  consumption  (4  Nos.),  (ii) rain water consumption (3  Nos.)  and  (iii)  waste  water  generation  &  waste  water  reuse (5 Nos.)

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(2) Online  pH  meter  is  to  be  provided in reaction tanks of  the  effluent  treatment  plants  to  ensure  optimum  pH  for  effective  precipitation  of  the  pollutants.

(3) Fluoride  concentration  in  groundwater  at  gypsum  storage  ponds  is  to  be  regularly monitored, recorded  and ensured with the baseline  fluoride concentration.

(4) Health  monitoring  of  the  people  living  in  the  nearby  villages is to be carried out at  least once every six months.

IX To improve  greenbelt  development

(1) Around  26  hectares  of  land  within the industry premises  is  to  be  earmarked  and  developed as greenbelt, to the  width of 25 meters.

(2) Greenbelt  cover  should  be  improved  around  the  periphery  of  the  smelter  plant,  slag  yard,  gypsum  pond  and  secured  landfill  facility  to  act  as  barrier  to  control  secondary  fugitive  emissions.

(3) The  native  species  (achras  sapota,  azadirachta  indica,  cassia fistula, cassia slamea,  casuarinas  equisetifolia,  eucalyptus  sp.  Flcus  benghalensis,  ficul  eligiosa,  millingtonia hortensis, oringa  sp.  Peltophorum  

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ferrugineum,  polyathia  lingifclia,  pongarnia  pinnata,  prospis  juliflora,  tabefuia  rosea,  terminalia  catappa,  thespesia  populnea,  etc.)  should  be  planted  in  new  areas of greenbelt cover.”

6. We direct the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to  

issue  directions,  in  exercise  of  its  powers  under  the  Air  

(Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and Water  

(Prevention  and  Control  of  Pollution)  Act,  1974,  to  the  

petitioners-industry to carry out the aforesaid measures and  

remove  the  aforesaid  deficiencies  within  such  time  as  it  

thinks reasonable and proper.  The directions will be issued  

by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board within two weeks  

from today.  The matter will be listed in the first week of  

January,  2012  and  the  interim  stay  of  the  impugned  

judgment will continue till then.  

.……………………….J.                                                             (R. V. Raveendran)

………………………..J.                                                             (A. K. Patnaik) New Delhi, October 11, 2011.   

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