The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to Tamil Nadu government on a plea by Vedanta Ltd to reopen its Sterlite copper plant at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu.
A bench of Justices R F Nariman, Navin Sinha and Indira Banerjee refused to provide any interim relief to the company in the matter.
The court posted the matter for consideration after six weeks. It asked the state government's reply also on an interim plea for stay on the HC's order.
It decided to consider on next date the plea by the company for staying Madras High Court's order of August 18 rejecting its petition to restart the plant.
The company was represented by senior advocates C A Sundaram and Shyam Divan and the state government by senior advocates C S Vaidyanathan, K V Vishwanathan and Additional Advocate General Balaji Srinivasan.
The special leave petition by the company assailed the high court's judgement which upheld Tamil Nadu government's decision of May 28, 2018, to shut down the plant due to environmental concerns.
In its 815-page judgement, the high court rejected writ petitions by Vedanta Ltd, saying prohibitory orders were rightly passed by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board against the plant for violating laws related to pollution control.
The order for closure of the plant was made subsequent to massive protests, resulting into killings of 13 people.
Tamil Nadu government, as well as local residents, has already filed a caveat in the top court for granting them a hearing before passing any order in the matter.