NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear on Friday a plea by the Centre seeking modification of an earlier order virtually stopping the dismantling process of India’s first aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, decommissioned in 1997.
The Ministry of Defence sought an urgent hearing of its fresh plea for modification of the May 5 order on the ground that the carrier has been incurring huge costs for repairs and maintenance, besides occupying a berth which could be used for serving vessels at the Naval dockyard at Mumbai.
The aircraft carrier was built in England well before the end of World War-II. The Indian Navy bought it in 1957 and decommissioned it in 1997. Earlier, a Bench headed by Justice K S Radhakrishnan, since retired, had ordered status quo on dismantling of the ship and sought responses from the MoD and others.