The National Green Tribunal has set aside the Tamil Nadu Government’s order closing down the Vedanta-owned Sterlite Copper factory in Thoothukudi , Tamil Nadu.The Tribunal has also directed the state pollution control board to renew a key licence, Consent To Operate, and remove other hurdles subject to fulfilment of certain conditions, within three weeks from now.“Accordingly, we allow this appeal, set aside the impugned orders and direct the TNPCB to pass fresh order of renewal of consent and authorization to handle hazardous substances, in the light of above finding, subject to appropriate conditions for protection of environment in accordance with law within three weeks from today.” the National Green Tribunal ordered in its judgment dated December 15, seen by ET.The Tribunal has also ordered for restoration of power supply to the factory, subject to certain conditions. On May 23, the state pollution control board had suspended power supply after it claimed to have found production-related activity inside the factory, at a time the Sterlite Copper plant hadn’t had a licence to run the unit.The NGT order is the culmination of a legal battle for over 6 months. Sterlite Copper had moved the NGT well over a month after the closure order by Tamil Nadu in May this year.In the order, the Tribunal had adjudicated on the legality of the Tamil Nadu pollution control board to refuse a renewal of the Consent to Operate, the first roadblock for Sterlite Copper that culminated in its shutdown in May this year: “If anything was still required to be done in that regard by the appellant[Sterlite Copper], this could not be a ground for rejecting consent for renewal or for closing the unit without opportunity of hearing to the appellant. Even if there is a technical breach as contended on behalf of the respondents, the breach is trivial in nature causing no prejudice to anyone.” NGT wrote in its order.In an earlier interview to ET, Sterlite Copper CEO P Ramnath said the plant could take some time to resume production in view of pending maintenance work.The court has also said Sterlite Copper should, on “precautionary principle,” take a series of steps for “safeguarding environment.” The factory has been directed to spend Rs 2.5 crore for its faulty handling of 3.5 lakh tonnes of copper slag near the factory. It has also been directed to form a digital portal—a wifey publicised one— for registry of complaints in its operations.The Vedanta-owned Sterlite Factory was shut in 2013 on complaints of causing harm to he environment. It was reopened after the Supreme Court ruled in its favour but directed it to spend Rs100 crore for the environment. In Saturday’S judgment too, the NGT has directed Sterlite to implement its promise of spending another Rs 100 crore for the environment."We welcome the order given by the National Green Tribunal on allowing us to resume operations of our Copper Smelter at Thoothukudi. We are happy that all those affected by the closure will get back their source of livelihood and the town of Thoothukudi will revert to normalcy. We will study the order in detail and shall take all steps required to restart the operations as per guidelines given by the honourable court. We have been operating our Smelter with the best-in- class technology adapting best practices followed globally and shall continue to do so.We thank the people of Thoothukudi for the faith reposed in us and for their support. We will continue to work for the welfare of the communities around the region and remain committed to growing sustainably along with the people of Thoothukudi."