NEW DELHI: The Sterlite Industries on Wednesday told the apex court that the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board continued to contradict its own reports, time and again. Senior counsel Sundaram, appearing for Sterlite Industries, said that he was not casting aspersions on the Board, however. During the hearing on Sterlite Industries case, Vaiko, appearing as a party-in person, told a Bench, comprising Justice R M Lodha and Justice H L Gokhale, that the company had been working for 44 months without a valid permit or a valid licence. Justice Lodha told Sundaram that at the moment Sterlite was confronted with the problem of disposal of gypsum and other chemical waste. To this, the senior counsel said, “Though this is a unique condition for the company, it had brought down the level of the waste from 1.5 million tonnes to half a tonne.” But, Vaiko contended that the pollutant deposits lying on the Sterlite factory would adversely affect the marine life. The SC had earlier directed the Sterlite to submit an appropriate application to the TNPCB for seeking its consent to continue its operations. The court directed the Board to consider the application in the light of the NEERI recommendations. The TNPCB granted permission to the Sterlite to continue operations till June 30, 2012, but with on condition that the Sterlite should remove 50 pc of the deposits of phosphate and gypsum. Sterlite had requested the court to relax this condition enabling it to clear 10 to 20 pc of the deposits However, the Bench was yet to pass any orders on this. It posted the matter to May 9.
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