The Orissa High Court on Thursday asked the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) authorities not to act in haste in connection with the issue of extension of port limits.
A two-member bench of the High Court (HC) consisting of Chief Justice V Gopal Gouda and Justice B M Mahapatra on Thursday began preliminary hearing on the matter.
The bench observed the Centre is in the process of negotiations with the Orissa government and the KoPT authorities on the unilateral extension of Kolkata port limits.
The next hearing on the matter is scheduled for June 21. It may be noted that a Public Interest Litigation was filed in the Orissa HC, opposing the move of KoPT to extend its port limits. The Union shipping ministry is reported to be in favour of amicable settlement of the dispute through selection of an alternate site for transloading facility of KoPT.
The ministry is understood to be against taking the legal route for settling the dispute over territorial sea waters between the governments of West Bengal and Orissa.
The Orissa government had raised the issue after KoPT had decided to locate its transloading facility near the coastal waters of Orissa, threatening the business of Dhamara port, a 50:50 joint venture of Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro (L&T).
Dhamara Port has an exclusivity agreement with the Orissa government, according to which no other port facility can be created within 25 kilometre. The unilateral extension of KoPT’s port limits had snowballed into a major controversy with the Orissa government vociferously opposing the move.
The state government was even contemplating legal action against KoPT if the Centre did not heed its concerns.
Earlier, in March this year, the Union ministry of shipping had directed the KoPT authorities to put on hold the tendering process for a 270-metre-long multipurpose jetty to be taken up on the public-private partnership (PPP) mode at a cost of Rs 290 crore.
The tenders for the jetty were to be floated by KoPT after the notification, which sought to extend the port limits of KoPT, jeopardising seven upcoming minor ports in Orissa including Dhamara.
On January 20 this year, the Orissa government had shot off a strong letter to the Centre on the issue. The revised limits of KoPT extends more than 200 km south of Haldia into the Bay of Bengal covering an area of 28,646 square kilometre.
The revised limits effectively block the access to Dhamara port that is already developed and the access to all future ports north of Dhamara, including Chudamani, Chandipur, Inchudi, Subarnarekha mouth, Bichitrapur and Bahabalpur.
It may be noted the Orissa government has already signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and concession agreement for the ports proposed at Chudamani and Subarnarekha mouth, respectively.
