The Supreme Court on Monday granted 1 week time to the petitioner to verify the report which said that Aircarft Carrier Viraat has been dismantled upto 40%.
The bench of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, Justices A.S. Bopanna, Justice V. Ramasubramanian heard the plea.
Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhawan was appearing for the Respondent, Shree Ram Group of Industries submitted that the ship is not seaworthy and it has already been dismantled up to 40% by the purchaser and a sum of Rs 1.6 Cr. per Month is been spent to maintain the warship. He also pointed out that the Ship has been validly purchased by the Shree Ram Group of Industries in an open auction therefore the purchaser must be allowed to further dismantle the ship.
Advocate Rupali Sharma appearing for the petitioner Envitech Marine Consultants Private Limited submitted that it is the norm all over the word that warships are converted into Museum.
Earlier, the Bombay High Court asked the Union government to decide on Envitech Marine Consultants Private Limited request that decommissioned aircraft carrier Viraat be handed over to it, so that the ship could be converted into a museum. And thereafter the High Court disposed off the matter.
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While the warship is awaiting dismantling at a ship scrapping yard at Alang in Gujarat, the government said it had no objection if the petitioner bought it from the bidder who purchased it for scrapping.
Envitech Marine Consultants Pvt Ltd, seeks a direction to the Union Ministry of Defence to allow it to buy Viraat. The company wanted to convert the ship into a maritime museum and multi-functional adventure centre.