Supreme Court on INS Viraat

  • A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde directed to maintain status quo with regard to dismantling/breaking of INS Viraat.
  • The order was issuued on a petition filed by M/s Envitech Marine Consultants Pvt Ltd, which wants to buy INS Viraat and convert it into a museum.
  • The Thane-based firm had approached the SC after the Ministry of Defence declined to provide a No-Objection Certificate, needed to repurchase the vessel.

IMPLICATIONS FOR ALANG SHIPBREAKER

  • Mukesh Patel, chairman of Shree Ram Group, the shipbreaker at Alang who purchased INS Viraat as scrap from an auction conducted by Metal Scrap Corporation Limited for Rs 38.54 crore announced stopping all dismantling work on INS Viraat.
  • The shipbreaker said the decision to stall the breaking of INS Viraat was taken by the SC without hearing their side. 
  • According to experts, any profit for the shipbreaker at Alang depends on the “turnaround time” which is the period within which the shipbreaker can dismantle the ship and sell it as scrap. 
  • The faster a ship is broken, the more the profit.

INS VIRAAT

  • The ship was completed and commissioned in 1959 as the Royal Navy's HMS Hermes, and decommissioned in 1984. 
  • It was sold to India and commissioned here in 1987. 
  • The ship was formally decommissioned on 6 March 2017.

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