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INS Viraat's dismantling to be kept on hold, says Supreme Court to owner
INS Viraat, India’s first aircraft carrier inducted into the Indian Navy in 1987, was decommissioned in 2017.
The dismantling of the Navy’s former warship, Viraat, has been kept on hold by the Supreme Court, which also issued notice to the company that brought the ship from the government to be made into scrap.
The top court’s order comes on a petition by a group that offered to buy the decommissioned carrier and convert it into a maritime museum.
A court was informed that a portion of the ship has already been dismantled.
“In the meantime, parties are directed to maintain status quo with regard to dismantling/breaking of the subject-ship known as INS Viraat, as on date,” said a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde.
The firm - Envitech Marine Consultants Private Limited - had earlier lost before the Bombay High Court. By an order of November 3, 2020 the high court refused to intervene in the matter after the ministry of defence refused to issue a no objection certificate.
At an auction held in July last year, the government sold the warship to Shree Ram Group of Industries, a ship-breaking firm based in Alang, Gujarat, for converting it into scrap at a price of ₹38.54 crore.
INS Viraat, India’s first aircraft carrier inducted into the Indian Navy in 1987, was decommissioned in 2017. It was previously part of the British Royal Navy before it was acquired from the United Kingdom.
Envitech Marine Consultants was represented before the apex court by its managing director Rupali Sharma. The firm had evinced interest in purchasing the ship by offering a premium. But the ship’s new owner had demanded a sum of ₹100 crore.
On Wednesday, the bench, also comprising Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian asked Sharma to indicate how much the petitioner firm was willing to pay to acquire INS Viraat. Sharma stated that the ship-breaking company had demanded ₹100 crore. The Court asked Sharma, “What is the condition of the ship? Has it been dismantled?”
The petitioner informed the bench that 25 per cent of dismantling was over. However, the hull is still intact, Sharma added. Before the Bombay High Court, the Ministry had stated that the new owner of the ship was not willing to sell.
