The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court stayed the reopening of the Sterlite Copper Plant. While ruling that the Sterlite Plant would not be opened as per the National Green Tribunal order and ‘status quo’ shall be maintained as the State may contemplate an appeal against the order, the Court said that a final decision could be arrived at only after the State's response.
The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court stayed the reopening of the Sterlite Copper Plant. While ruling that the Sterlite Plant would not be opened as per the National Green Tribunal order and ‘status quo’ shall be maintained as the State may contemplate an appeal against the order, the Court said that a final decision could be arrived at only after the State's response.
"Let the Tamil Nadu state make a decision before the High Court, as to whether any decision is taken to file an appeal before the Supreme Court in this case, " opined the Division bench comprising of Justice K K Sasidharan and Justice P D Aadhikesavalu. They stated that a statutory period till March 14, 2019 exists to file an appeal against the NGT order before the Supreme Court, and until then the status quo would prevail.
Prof. R Fatima, an anti-Sterlite activist of Thoothukudi who filed a petition in the Court has sought a direction to quash the NGT order to reopen the plant as the order was "patently wrong, both on fact and in legal contexts."