A public interest litigation (PIL), filed at the Madurai bench of Madras high court to cancel the Centre’s proposal to sell naval ships to Sri Lanka, came up for hearing on Tuesday.
The PIL filed by Madurai-based advocate B Stalin sought interim injunction restraining cabinet secretary (CS) of Union of India from selling two naval ships to Sri Lanka. It also sought direction to cancel the proposal.
The Centre’s decision to sell warships was confirmed by minister of state, Prime Minister’s Office V Narayanasamy. He had stated that according to an earlier agreement signed with Sri Lanka, ships are to be sold to the nation.
On September 11, the Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa had urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh through a letter asking him to clarify about the agreement without delay, and to cancel the proposal if any.
On his part, the shipping minister G K Vasan had also voiced against the proposal, and assured that he would meet the Prime Minister to insist him not to sell naval ships to the island nation. However, no fruitful result has come out so far. - ToI
