Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko on Tuesday strongly pleaded in the Supreme Court for a permanent closure of the copper smelting plant of Sterlite Industries at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu. He made this submission before a Bench of Justices A.K. Patnaik and H.L. Gokhale, hearing an appeal filed by Sterlite Industries against a Madras High Court judgment directing closure of the plant. The Court in October 2010 had stayed the judgment and is now in the process of final hearing of the case. During the resumed hearing, Mr. Vaiko referred to the observations made by the Judges in the last hearing on October 10 that in environmental matters the Court would have to consider the opinion of experts, and explained how the reports were at variance with one another. In an emotional appeal Mr. Vaiko told the Court, “Today the humanity in this planet is facing a terrible challenge of environmental degradation. The Court will have to protect the life and liberty of the people as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution. I would pray for permanent closure of the industry and payment of adequate compensation to the workers who would be affected by the closure.” Arguments will continue today.