Cuttack, Nov. 4: The course of action undertaken for the removal of fuel oil from the sunken ship, Black Rose, is now at the centre of a high court dispute over Paradip Port Trust’s power to award oil salvage contract to an US-based agency.

Lawyer Guru Prasad Mohanty raised the dispute in the form of a PIL, invoking admiralty jurisdiction of Orissa High Court.

The Mongolian-flagged ship had sunk off the Paradip coast close to Gahirmatha marine sanctuary on September 9. On October 9, Paradip Port Trust (PPT) had chosen Florida-based Resolve Marine Group through a global tender to drain out 900MT of furnace oil trapped in the wreckage.

The whole procedure entailing an expenditure of Rs 17.5 crore violated the admiralty laws that govern the maritime practice in India as PPT is not responsible for the salvage operation.

The vessel owned by Singapore-based Black Rose Maritime Limited was managed by Pancar Shipping Limited, also based out of Singapore. It was registered in Ulan Bator (Mongolia). As both the ship’s owner and managers had not come forward to undertake the salvage operation, the Indian Merchant Shipping Act prescribed the “appointment of a receiver of wreck”. The petition came up for preliminary hearing yesterday.

Petitioner counsels said according to maritime law, Jagatsinghpur collector, within the limits of whose jurisdiction the ship had sunk, should have taken possession of it as receiver of wreck and sold off the vessel and borne expenditure for the oil salvage operation from the sale proceeds.