Anil Agarwal-owned Vedanta Aluminium's bid to expand its refinery capacity at Lanjigarh in Odisha's Kalahandi district appears to have run into a legal hurdle with the environment ministry putting on hold the terms of reference for the expansion till the disposal of the Odisha High Court judgement.
Even as the high court reserved its judgment on the review petition filed by Vedanta Aluminum, the ministry issued the notice putting on hold the terms which are necessary to conduct an environment impact assessment, vital for a government approval.
"It is proposed that the issuance of the terms of reference be kept in abeyance till the disposal of the review petition by the high court of Odisha, Cuttack," the MoEF notice said.
Vedanta Aluminum president Mukesh Kumar said he was surprised to have received the letter at a time when the high court judgment was reserved. "We went to the high court for reviewing its earlier order for more clarity on the office memorandum dated November 16, 2010, to qualify for the amnesty. The court has "inadvertently left unanswered" its plea to be considered under the MoEF's notice.
Earlier, the environment ministry had allowed amnesty to Jindal Power's Tamnar project and others.
Meanwhile, the Vedanta Aluminum president has made it clear that the ministry was wrong in considering its application as a fresh application for issuance of TOR. "Although our covering letter dated July 22, 2011 ... clearly states that our request was only to grant environmental clearance under office memorandum dated November 16, 2010, by restarting the process from where it was stopped earlier, it appears from the letter dated December 1, 2011, that you are considering our application as a fresh application," the letter said.
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