Legal stand sought on holding Stella ship

Vijayawada : Can the state government seize a ship that belongs to another country? It is learnt that the legal experts had informed the government that the Stella ship which belongs to another country cannot be held back for long. It will not stand legal scrutiny in an admiralty court.

The Admiralty Court is a tribunal with jurisdiction over maritime law, including cases regarding shipping, ocean, and sea laws. Currently, admiralty jurisdiction applies to Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras High Courts. It can be extended to the High Courts of Karnataka, Gujarat, Orissa, Kerala, Hyderabad, and any other High Court notified by the central government.

Section 4(2) provides the admiralty jurisdiction to the Indian courts and the power to try offences committed on any ship, or aircraft registered in India. But since this ship belongs to another country it cannot be held back for long.

In the backdrop of this, officials on Wednesday visited the Kakinada port where the ship has been held back, and collected samples which would be sent to a laboratory to find out how much of the rice that was loaded into the ship was of the PDS. Following the searches and rains, the loading of rice had stopped.

Port authorities said it would take about a week to load the ship. Meanwhile, the lab report is expected to come based on which the government will decide its next action.

It may be recalled that last week, the state government ordered the seizure of 640 tonnes of PDS (Public Distribution System) rice when Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan visited Kakinada Anchorage Port on Friday.

Pawan said a powerful mafia was involved in exploiting the port and smuggling PDS rice.

Warning that such activities could jeopardise national security, he noted that the smuggling network could pave the way for terrorists to infiltrate and transport explosives. This issue also prominently figured in the cabinet meeting on Tuesday.