Kriti Agrawal
On Friday Chief Justice S. A. Bobde said, “There is an Article of the Constitution that demands that possession and control of the community’s material resources be allocated equitably for the common good, and the Tamil Nadu state knows and understands this!”
The CJ Bobde, Justices L. Nageswara Rao and Ravindra Bhat were hearing a petition filed by Vedanta seeking permission to reopen its copper plant in Madras in order to provide free medical oxygen to the region, which is suffering from a severe shortage.
The Court was notified of the Tamil Nadu government’s hesitation in resuming plant operations due to public opinion in the state and fear of worsening law-and-order situation.
CJ Bobde said, “The entire purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate that people all over the country need oxygen! That is why, with respect for everyone’s feelings, we are looking into the problem! ‘We have an abundance of oxygen, but we won’t generate any even though you need it’? What kind of logic is that? You won’t produce oxygen and let people die only because there’s a problem with Vedanta? I’ve never heard the state government make such a claim!”
CJ Bobde said, “We are not interested in Vedanta or A, B or C running it! We want oxygen to be produced from a facility that is capable of producing it! When people are dying, the state government says that we won’t run the plant because it may lead to law-and-order problems? Keep Vedanta out! Fulfil your responsibility of manufacturing oxygen!”
SG Tushar Mehta said the bench, “The country is in urgent need of oxygen and the way the central government allocates it, it is not that the oxygen manufactured in a state would be confined to that state only; Orissa oxygen can also come to Rajasthan. The capacity (of the Vedanta plant) is 1000 MT. The central government is not concerned with Tamil Nadu or Vedanta.”
The CJ Bobde said, “Please don’t labor on a point which we already know. In Constitution there is an article that states that the community’s financial resources must be distributed equally in order to serve the common good. [Article 39(b)] It’s a DPSP. Tamil Nadu is well aware of this. Allow Tamil Nadu to produce. On Monday, we’ll learn about oxygen production.”