Princess case adjourned

PANJIM, SEPT 6
The Bombay High Court at Goa today adjourned River Princess case to Wednesday.
Advocate General Subodh Kantak submitted to the Court that the case may be fixed for next date as the meeting of bidders Salgaoncar Mining Industries Private Limited (SMIPL), M/s Titan Salvage and M/s Madgaonkar Salvage is fixed today.
The double bench comprising of Justice D G Karnik and Justice F M Reis allowed the time till Wednesday, when the case would be heard again.
Last week, the state government had told Court that SMIPL would be given preference to tow the vessel as they are the actual owners and are ready to take the vessel free of cost.
The government was supposed to inform the Court over its final decision on September 6.
However, SMIPL failed to attend the joint meeting of bidders and State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) headed by the Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, scheduled on September 3.
The Division Bench were hearing a public interest litigation filed by River Princess Hatao Manch (RPHM).
Meanwhile, Salgaoncar Mining Industries Private Limited   has put a proposal before the government stating that they want the ownership of the vessel back before starting the work to break it and take it away.
In March this year, Salgaoncar Mining Industries Private Limited bid was rejected for not being in consonance with the tender conditions and accordingly an application was moved to the High Court.
Last month, the Advisory Committee after considering opinions of legal advisors in-principle had decided that Titan Salvage would be the best option to remove the River Princess.