The High Court of Karnataka on Monday dismissed a PIL petition, which had sought a direction against the Indian Navy from using Netrani island near Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada district for “target practices”.
A Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice B.V. Nagarathna passed the order while dismissing the petition filed by environment enthusiasts A.N. Karthik and two others.
“The court can’t interfere in such matters that jeopardise the interests of the military,” the Bench observed.
With this order, the interim order, passed by the High Court on November 23, 2012, asking the Navy not to use the island for the purpose of “target practices”, gets vacated. The petitioners had claimed that the island, situated at a distance of around nine nautical miles from Bhatkal, was being used by the Navy from several decades, but there is no information on whether the Navy has obtained any permission from the authorities concerned.
It was also contended in the petition that the Navy had not conducted any environment impact assessment for the island.
