The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Centre to shift aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, which was decommissioned in 1997, from the Naval dockyard to a ship breaking yard at Darukhana in Mumbai.
“We have only considered the shifting of ship from the Naval dockyard,” a bench of justices B S Chauhan and A K Sikri said, adding the decommissioned aircraft career will be kept in territorial water only.
During the brief hearing, Additional Solicitor General Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the Defence ministry, said the shifting was necessary keeping in view the safety aspect and moreover, the ship has “no mobility on its own”.
The bench said it would hear in July the plea of Mumbai-based ship breaking company IB Commercial, which won the bid to dismantle the ship after paying Rs 63 crore to the Centre, against the payment of port trust charges and customs duty payment.
Kiran Paigankar, who had moved the Supreme Court against a Bombay High Court decision rejecting her plea for preserving INS Vikrant by converting it into a maritime museum, on Friday opposed the decision of shifting of ship by the private firm to ship breaking yard at Darukhana in Mumbai.
Earlier, the Defence ministry has moved the court seeking modification of the May 5 order on the ground that the aircraft carrier has been incurring huge cost in its repairs and maintenance, besides occupying crucial berth for other serving vessels at the Naval dockyard at Mumbai.
The court, however, had said it would not modify the order and may consider the plea to shift the ship out of dockyard.
The aircraft career was built in England well before the end of World War-II and the Indian Navy had bought it in 1957 and was decommissioned in 1997.
INS Vikrant had played a key role during the Bangladesh liberation war.
Earlier, an apex court bench headed by Justice K S Radhakrishnan, since retired, had ordered status quo on dismantling of the ship and sought responses from the Defence Ministry and others.
The plea said Indian Navy in April this year sold ‘INS Vikrant’ to the highest bidder, a Mumbai-based ship breaking company IB Commercial, for Rs 63 crore, much above its reserve bid of Rs 3 crore.
As per the deal, the ship is to be pulled down and the firm is free to sell its parts as lucrative scrap.
The ship’s last day at the berth of Mumbai coast is May 18 while the firm has planned to shift it to ship breaking yard on Friday.
Maharashtra government had said in the Bombay High Court that converting the ship as a maritime museum was not economically viable as it would incur a huge expenditure on maintenance and repairs.
The Centre said the ship has outlived its utility and keeping it in the dockyard would not only block other functional vessels but will also be dangerous for visitors.
The PIL had also sought quashing of the tender issued by the Defence Ministry inviting bids for converting the ship into scrap.
“INS Vikrant has remarkably contributed in a historical victory of India over Pakistan in 1971 and it should not be scrapped,” the petition said.
The Defence Ministry had filed an affidavit in the High Court saying, “INS Vikrant’s hull is over 70 years old. It was decommissioned on completion of its operational life. Retention of the decommissioned ship in its present state is adversely affecting national security and operational preparedness.”
“At a certain stage, ships can no longer be economically refurbished or repaired. Maintenance and berthing of such ships require heavy expenditure of public funds,” the affidavit had said.
The union ministry in its affidavit also said the Indian Navy has been actively involved in preserving and maintaining ’INS Vikrant’ until now.
