MediaVigil, Journal of Global Communications and Justice

1. Violating SC order, 53 ships beach at Alang In September, the SC passed an order that said ships would be given permission to beach only after they obtain a certificate saying that they were gas free for hot work New Delhi: Violating the Supreme Court’s September directive asking ships arriving in India to be scrapped to beach only after they meet a certain condition, 53 of them have beached at Gujarat’s Alang ship-breaking yard without doing so because the firms involved claim there is no clarity as to who will certify that they have met this condition. The Ship Recycling Industries Association (SRIA), an industry lobby group for ship recyclers, admitted this in an application to the court, which is hearing an ongoing litigation on hazardous waste. Ships have a certain lifespan after which their owners sell them as scrap. Ships need to be broken at ship-breaking yards such as the one at Alang before metal can be extracted from them. However, some of the ships contain gases and can

Violating court’s order, 30 ships beach without pre-cleaning The Hazardous Wastes/ship breaking case came up in the court today. Gopal Subramaniam, Additional Solicitor General was given eight weeks to respond to the applications pending before the court. Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, former Additional Solicitor General represented the SRIA sought an early hearing. It has come to light that in violation of apex court’s order, 30 ships have beached in Alang. Now Ship Recycling Industries Association (SRIA), India is seeking modification of the court’s order that was based on the recommendations of the Technical Experts Committee on Hazardous Wastes relating to Ship-breaking to ensure that these ships including Blue Lady gets dismantling permission. There are at four applications pending before the court in the wake of the September 6 and September 11, 2007 order by the Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S H Kapadia bench. The court had directed that "The notification issued by Gujarat

Supreme Court is due to hear the matter of SS Norway (Blue Lady)on 22nd January 2007. There are two clarification applications pending before the court in the wake of the September 6 and September 11, 2007 order by the Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S H Kapadia bench. The Supreme Court had also directed Government of India to constitute a new Committee consisting of MoEF, GPCB, GMB, AERB that shall verify all the documents before ship is allowed for breaking. This committee is yet to be formed. European and Norwegian silence in the matter especially in the aftermath of Le Clemenceau precedent is deafening. br> On 7th January, 2008, UN delegates visited Alang and took pictures of SS Norway (Blue Lady) and proved both international and national media that had misreported that the ship has been dismantled wrong. Some 30 ships await permission from the apex court. Also Le Clemenceau has not been dismantled yet. It might get permission until the end of 2008. In Brest,