Plea in Kerala HC seeks court-monitored probe into two shipwrecks
Kochi: A public interest litigation has been filed in high court seeking a court-monitored time-bound investigation by a multi-agency special investigation team (SIT) into the recent shipwrecks involving MSC ELSA 3 and MV Wan Hai 503 off the Kerala coast.
The petitioner, Parappangadi resident Ummer Ottummal, urged that the SIT comprise representatives from the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC), the directorate general of shipping, Indian Coast Guard, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and other relevant institutions.
The petition, which will be taken up on Tuesday, further prays for the establishment of a dedicated coastal victims compensation, rehabilitation and environment restoration fund (CVCRERF) with an initial corpus of Rs 1,000 crore to be contributed by the central govt.
According to the petitioner, this fund should be utilised for the benefit of the affected coastal communities and for the restoration of biodiversity and the coastal environment.
Ummer, who claims to represent the 'collective conscience' of the fishermen community in Kerala, also seeks the constitution of a court-monitored environmental restoration task force, comprising independent ecological experts, scientists, maritime safety specialists and representatives of statutory bodies under the aegis of the MoEFCC.
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In addition, the petition calls for the formulation of a national coastal hybrid threat prevention framework and the constitution of a high-level inter-ministerial task force, with representation from the defence and environment ministries, to address strategic maritime security breaches, starting with the circumstances surrounding MSC ELSA 3 and MV Wan Hai 503.
Referring to the incidents, namely, the sinking of the Liberian-flagged cargo ship MSC ELSA 3 off the Alappuzha coast on May 25 and the fire aboard the Singapore-flagged MV Wan Hai 503 off the Kannur coast on June 9, the petitioner alleged that they resulted in grave violations of the livelihood rights and safety of Kerala's coastal population, and were compounded by a failure to safeguard the region's ecology, biodiversity, and environment.
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