CAO closure of Tata Mundra case sends chilling message to project-affected communities in search of justice
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Article summary
Tata Mundra communities left without justice or remedy as CAO closes the case, exacerbating concerns about lack of accountability in IFC-financed projects.
US-based civil society organisation EarthRights reported on 10 October that the independent accountability mechanism for the International Financial Corporation (IFC; the World Bank’s private sector lending arm), the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), has closed its investigation into the Tata Mundra coal-fired power plant project in India, which was opened in 2011 (see Observer Summer 2014, Winter 2013). The CAO closed the case despite concluding that the “process has been unsatisfactory for complainants, whose concerns about health, livelihoods, and the environment remain unresolved.”
The communities’ quest for justice resulted in a land-mark lawsuit in 2015, followed by the US Supreme Court’s historic decision in 2019 that the IFC did not benefit from absolute immunity from the law, as it had claimed (see Observer Summer 2022, Spring 2019). The perseverance and struggles of the affected fisherfolk communities were captured in a 2024 documentary, The Fisherman and the Banker, but despite longstanding efforts, communities remain without a remedy or compensation.
Joe Athialy of India-based Centre for Financial Accountability lamented, “By closing this case without ensuring remedy for the people, the CAO is rewarding the IFC for violating their own policies and for not taking any remedial action. This cannot be allowed to be a precedent for IFC or any international financial institution to walk away from taking responsibility for the serious impacts their investments have caused.”
The plight of Tata Mundra communities is not unique, as seen in cases in the Philippines and Indonesia, among others. Aaron Pedrosa of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice stressed, “It is a sad day for all projected-affected communities including those in the Philippines who look to the CAO to deliver meaningful remedies for harms. This will be an indelible stain on CAO’s record – a gross failure of IFC’s accountability mechanism. It sends a chilling message to those of us still pushing for justice and accountability for harmful IFC investments.”
