‘Won’t interfere with NOC to vessel crew’

CHENNAI: Stating that the High Court does not want to interfere in the no objection certificate issued by the Director General of Shipping to the crew members of motor vessel MT BW Maple, the first bench disposed of a PIL to detain it at the Ennore Port, where it was anchored for months.
The ship was involved in a collision with another vessel ‘Dawn Kancheepuram’, which resulted in huge spillage of oil in the vast shores of the Bay of Bengal, on January 28 last.

A bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar made the observation, while passing orders on a PIL from M E Raja, president of the National Union of Fishermen, praying for a direction to quash the NOC dated September 14 last of the Nautical Surveyor-cum-Deputy Director General of Shipping (Technical), Mumbai for the release of the vessel.

“We do not want to interfere in the no objection issued by the Director General of Shipping for sailing of the vessel. There is not even a wishper in the PIL as to how further detention of the vessel would be of any use,” the bench said and disposed of the petition.

According to the petitioner, when cases were pending against the vessel in the Southern Bench of the NGT claiming compensation for the environmental pollution created by the accident and criminal probe was going on, the DGS has issued NOC, which was whimsical.

The Master of the vessel submitted that the owners of the vessel, through their insurers, had already arranged for executing a bank guarantee for `203 crore in favour of DGS, based on which the department has come to the conclusion that the continued detention of the vessel is not necessary.