In a late-night emergency hearing on Sunday, the Calcutta High Court directed the arrest of a Panamanian vessel at Haldia Dock Complex.
A city-based paper company had approached the bench of Justice Arindam Mukherjee against shipping authorities for supplying damaged goods worth Rs 7,48,77,480. They feared that if the vessel MV Ph Giang Minh was not detained, it would leave the Indian waters by Monday morning.
An official of the paper company said the ship was chartered by them from a company called Dava. It got loaded in Indonesia and unloaded in Haldia. The ship was carrying pulp for making paper. “While unloading, we saw that a portion of the consignment was damaged. We wrote to the parties concerned but there was little effect. The value of the consignment was Rs 8-10 crore,” he added. The next hearing is on Aug 12.
In the court, it was claimed that unless the vessel was detained, the suit will become infructuous. It was submitted that out of 8,000 tonne of bleached hardwood, kraft, pulp and acacia purchased, 1,312 tonne was damaged.
Justice Mukherjee on Sunday clarified that if an aggregated sum of Rs 7 crore to the credit of the suit as security is deposited with the court’s registrar on or before Aug 12, the order of arrest will stand automatically vacated.