SANJIB BANERJEE,J. - (1.) The Court : Vessel M. V. VSEVOLOD BELETSKIY flying a Russian flag has been berthed in Haldia since the beginning of November, 2017. An order of arrest was passed at the behest of Rigveda Maritime Pte Limited, the plaintiff in one of the several suits brought against the vessel, on November 24, 2017.
(2.) Several other orders of arrest followed. Many creditors of the vessel approached this Court, including the Board of Trustees for the Port of Kolkata. According to the Port, its dues today are in excess of Rs.16 crore and it says that it has a lien under Section 64 of the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963. The vessel was valued in the range of Rs.58 crore to Rs.64 crore. The essential facts leading upto the attempt by this Court for the sale of the vessel have been recorded in an order dated September 30, 2019 passed in the previous set of appeals arising out of the order confirming the sale of the vessel at about Rs.25 crore and the connected matters.
(3.) Since there were better offers in Court than the highest bid at which the sale was confirmed, the initial order of confirmation of sale passed on July 25, 2019 was set aside and divers directions were issued by the appellate order of September 30, 2019 for immediate steps to be taken for conducting a fresh sale. In short, an officer of the Port was reappointed as special officer without remuneration for taking all steps to conduct a fresh sale. Such sale was to be conducted by e-auction and was to be subject to confirmation by the Admiralty Bench of this Court. It was the Director (Marine) of the Port who was entrusted with the task and the e-auction was completed before the matter for confirmation of sale was due to appear before the Admiralty Bench on November 8, 2019. It will be evident from the order dated September 30, 2019 that the time-line was so set to ensure that the sale was completed and the confirmation concluded as expeditiously as possible so that the ultimate purchasers could remove the vessel and unblock the relevant berth at Haldia. As to how the sale proceeds would be dealt with, could wait since the suits remained pending and the creditors have to be invited for the priorities to be decided.;