1 22.wp483-11 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO.483 OF 2011 Sea Consortium Shipping (India) Pvt.Ltd. ..Petitioner. Vs. The State of Maharashtra. ..Respondent. .......... Mr.Prashant Pratap, Advocate i/b. Rishi Bhuta & Manoj Khatri, Advocates for the Petitioner. Mr.P.A. Pol, Public Prosecutor for the State. .......... CORAM : A.M. KHANWILKAR AND A.R. JOSHI, JJ. DATED : 21st FEBRUARY, 2011. P.C. 1. The limited relief claimed in this Petition is to issue direction to the Respondent, in particular, the Yellow Gate Police Station, Mumbai to grant no objection to the Petitioner for moving the vessel MV NORDLAKE from Mumbai Port anchorage to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust [JNPT] for unloading of cargo on PPD 2 22.wp483-11 board belonging to third party and return back to Mumbai Port anchorage on completion of the discharge of the said cargo. This prayer is necessitated, as without the no-objection certificate of the Yellow Gate Police Station, JNPT Authorities would not permit berthing of the above vessel at JNPT. 2. Learned Public Prosecutor, on instructions of the Investigating Officer from Yellow Gate Police Station, submits that unless the Petitioner were to obtain no-objection from JNPT, Indian Navy and Director General of Shipping as well as from Mumbai Port Trust and the impact assessment certificate to be issued by the Director General of Shipping, the Investigating Officer may not be in a position to entertain the request of the Petitioner for issuance of no-objection certificate. However, this submission clearly over-looks that the concerned Authorities namely JNPT, Indian Navy and Director General of Shipping have already given no-objection in writing and copy of their communication was marked to the Senior Police Inspector of Yellow Gate Police Station, Mumbai. The same are at pages - 16, 18 & 21 respectively of the paper-book. 3 22.wp483-11 3. We fail to understand as to how the Investigating Officer of Yellow Gate Police Station, Mumbai would still contend that no-objection has not been given by all the concerned Authorities. Insofar as the no-objection certificate of Mumbai Port Trust is concerned, Counsel for the Petitioner has produced copy thereof. The same is taken on record, subject to the Petitioner filing affidavit in support of the fact that copy tendered to the Court is true and correct copy of the original received from the Mumbai Port Trust dated 10.2.2011. 4. The only other issue raised by the learned Public Prosecutor that remains to be addressed is of non-availability of impact assessment certificate. According to the Public Prosecutor once the cargo is allowed to be unloaded, it may not be possible for the experts to give the impact assessment certificate. In the first place, no material has been produced before us to justify this argument. Besides, the weight of the cargo is already recorded for, the vessel has been weighed with the cargo load and without the cargo load which can be discerned from the Bills of Ladding and Cargo Manifest. Once the quantum of cargo load is known and can be 4 22.wp483-11 noted from the Bills of Ladding and Cargo Manifest, even if the cargo on vessel were to be unloaded, the expert would be in a position to make the impact assessment. Suffice it to observe that untenable plea has been taken by the Investigating Officer for not issuing no-objection certificate to enable the Petitioner to move the vessel from Mumbai Port anchorage to JNPT anchorage for discharge of the cargo on board and return to Mumbai Port anchorage and to remain there for progressing further necessary action with regard to its collision. 5. In view of the above, we called upon the Public Prosecutor to take instructions from the Investigating Officer as to whether he would take the responsibility of the damage to be suffered by the Petitioner on account of each days delay due to non-issuance of the no-objection certificate by him. In response, the Investigating Officer through learned Public Prosecutor submits that he has no difficulty in issuing no-objection certificate, however, that would be subject to the conditions to be complied by the Petitioner as imposed by the Indian Navy and other Departments, such as, JNPT and Director General of Shipping. We accept this stand of the 5 22.wp483-11 Investigating Officer of Yellow Gate Police Station. In view of this stand of the Investigating Officer of Yellow Gate Police Station, no further order is required except to observe that the Investigating Officer shall issue necessary no-objection certificate forthwith, in any case, not later than 12:00 noon of 22nd February, 2011 without waiting for copy of this order which has been dictated in the open Court in presence of all the concerned. 6. Petition is disposed of on the above arrangement. (A. R. JOSHI, J.) (A. M. KHANWILKAR, J.)