PANJIM: The issue of several thousand Indian seafarers, stranded on various ships in different countries, has reached the doors of the Supreme Court that will hear the plea after four weeks.
Depending on the outcome of this petition, the High Court of Bombay at Goa will decide about the matter pertaining to Goan seafarers. The High Court has thus adjourned the plea filed by Margao-based Mukesh Patel by four weeks.
The petitioner, Patel, had last week filed a letter with the court stating that the government provides proper infrastructure for testing and containing COVID-19 before the entry of stranded seafarers into the State. “The government provides proper infrastructure for testing and containing corona virus before it could let in the Goan Seafarer(s) stranded across the globe. There are 8,000 of them, but the facilities in Goa for quarantine and treatment would cater to about only 300 patients,” the letter, which has been converted into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), stated.
When the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday, Advocate General Devidas Pangam informed about a similar petition before the apex court. “A similar petition concerning the rights of the seafarers is at large before the Apex Court and which has been simpliciter adjourned by four weeks,” Pangam submitted.
To this, Justice Nutan Sardessai said, “Depending on the outcome of the said petition the present petition also stands over by four weeks.”
