A High Court judge has agreed that a legal claim against UK based mining giant Vedanta Resources Plc and its subsidiary Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), on behalf of 1,826 Zambian villagers can proceed in the UK Courts. In his ruling, handed down today, Mr Justice Coulson granted jurisdiction over the claims, which involve allegations of serious environmental pollution, and rejected the Defendants’ arguments that the cases must be brought in Zambia...Both UK-based Vedanta and Zambian KCM argued that the UK court had no jurisdiction to try the claims against them. Lawyers for the mining companies argued that the claims against both Defendants should be tried in Zambia because the Claimants are Zambian and the damage occurred in Zambia. However, Leigh Day, the lawyers for the claimants, argued that the cases should be tried by the English courts. They argued that under EU law the Claimants had a legal right to bring a claim against UK-based Vedanta. They also argued that Vedanta should bear equal legal responsibility, given its control over its mining subsidiary, the profit it makes from the mine and its alleged knowledge of the pollution.