The Orissa High Court on Friday quashed the Kolkata Port?s notification extending its limit to Dhamra Port in Orissa.
This is for the first time in the country that a court has rejected the Centre’s claim that it has overriding power when it comes to drawing of port limits.
?The extension of the port limit of Kolkota Port Trust (KoPT) is illegal and arbitary,? high court Chief Justice V Gopala Gowda observed in his order, while quashing both the notifications issued by the Union shipping ministry and the KoPT regarding the extension of the port limit.
The court, while admitting a PIL filed by one Dilip Mohapatra of Keonjhar Naba Nirman Parisad, had completed its hearing on November 17 and had reserved its order.
Senior advocate and Congress leader Narasingha Mishra appeared for the petitioner. The Dharma Port Company (DPCL) and the Subranarekha Port were interveners in the case.
Mishra told fe that the court observed that the Centre cannot extend the jurisdiction of a major port over the area of non-major ports already notified.
The Centre cannot encroach upon the jurisdiction of the non-major ports already notified, it observed. The issue of notification by the Centre without consultation with the state government, which has already notified seven minor ports, is ?violation of natural justice?.