The foreign ship was intending to run off with spoiled goods. The court sat at 9 p.m. to hear the petition filed demanding the ban on the ship leaving the port. On Sunday, this exceptional incident happened in Calcutta High Court. The paper came to Haldia port from abroad by the Panama-flagged ship. Accepting the application of the importing company, the court issued a ban on the ship leaving the port until Thursday.
The paper importing company told the court that the ship anchored at Haldia port on July 25 with 8,000 metric tons of cargo. But after releasing the goods, it is found that 1,312 metric tons of the goods are unusable. Its market value in Indian rupees is around 7.5 crores. According to shipping rules, the shipping company is responsible for any damage to the goods in transit. But the vessel planned to leave Haldia port at 7 a.m. on Monday without compensating for the unusable goods.
The Calcutta High Court decided to hear the petition on Sunday night as the ship would have left the port before the court started on Monday. The hearing of the case started at 9 p.m. in the courtroom of Justice Arindam Mukhopadhyay. According to the importing company, it is virtually impossible to collect compensation from the shipping company for goods damaged after the ship leaves the port.
Hearing this, Justice Mukhopadhyay ordered that the ship will remain anchored at Haldia port till Thursday. This instruction should be communicated to the Haldia port authority and East Midnipur district administration. However, the shipping company can take the ship by depositing the compensation money in advance with the court. That is why they have to deposit 7 crore rupees in the court. The next hearing of the case is on August 12.
