The territorial dispute over coastal waters between Orissa and the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) has reached the highest judiciary in the country with the KoPT authorities filing a petition in the Supreme Court, demanding withdrawal of cases pending in the Orissa and Calcutta High Courts.
"The dispute will now be settled by the Supreme Court. The KoPT authorities have filed a petition in the apex court, making the Orissa government a party. The apex court will admit the petition on June 6 and being a respondent, we will file our petition soon”, said Gagan Dhal, principal secretary (commerce & transport), Orissa government.
Discussions were held today at a meeting in New Delhi convened by secretary, Union ministry of shipping to resolve the deadlock.
Though the Orissa government and KoPT officials presented their views, no decision could be taken considering the pendency of the matter in the Orissa and Calcutta High Courts and also because of the fact that KoPT has approached the Supreme Court on the issue. Apart from Dhal, the Orissa Chief Secretary B K Patnaik and Guru C Ray, special secretary (commerce & transport), Orissa government were present at the meeting.
"Our stand is that the notification that had unilaterally extended the KoPT limits be withdrawn. In any case, we are going to protect our state's interests”, Dhal asserted.
The unilateral extension of KoPT limits had snowballed into a major controversy with the Orissa government vociferously protesting the move. The state was sore over the fact that it was not consulted by KoPT before issuing a notification to extend port limits.
The state government had argued that the arbitrary extension of the port's limits would seriously jeopardize the operations of the minor ports coming up on the state's coastline. At a recent meeting called by the state government, the developers of Dhamara, Kirtania and Astaranga ports had voiced their strong opposition to the KoPT move.
Public Interest Litigations (PILs) were also filed in the Orissa and Calcutta High Courts, seeking scrapping of the notification that had extended the KoPT limits.
The Orissa High Court had recently asked the KoPT authorities not to act in haste. A two-member bench of the High Court (HC) consisting of Chief Justice V Gopal Gouda and Justice B M Mahapatra had begun preliminary hearing on the matter.
Though the Orissa government and KoPT authorities were prepared to take legal recourse for settling the dispute, the Union shipping ministry was purportedly against taking the legal route.
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 28646 sq km, blocking the entire coast of North Orissa where seven ports are being developed.
The revised limits effectively block the access to Dhamara port and the access to all future ports north of Dhamara including Chudamani, Chandipur, Inchudi, Subarnarekha mouth, Bichitrapur and Bahabalpur.
It may be noted that the Orissa government has already signed MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) and concession agreement for the ports proposed at Chudamani and Subarnarekha mouth respectively.
