New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked a technical experts committee to submit a report in July on the issue of entry into India of the Norway ship, Blue Lady, carrying about 1,250 tonnes of material containing asbestos. The court did not pass any order on the plea to stop the entry of Blue Lady, which is headed for Alang in Gujarat for ship-breaking.

A Bench consisting of Justices Arijit Pasayat and Markandey Katju, while issuing notice to the Centre and others on the application filed by the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy, said any further direction could be considered after receiving the committee's report.

Counsel Rohit Alex sought urgent directions to stop the entry of the ship, which had left the Malaysian port and would arrive at Alang within a fortnight.

The Foundation said the import of Blue Lady for scrapping would be in clear violation of the Basel Convention, the Hazardous Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2003 under the Environment Protection Act and various orders of the court.

Earlier, Additional Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam said the Centre had written to the Gujarat Maritime Board and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board, asking them to examine the contents of the ship before taking any decision.

In February, the court prevented the entry of the asbestos-contaminated French ship Clemenceau and constituted a committee to look into all aspects of ship-breaking including upgrading of the Alang yard. This panel is in addition to the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee implementing the October 13, 2003 judgment dealing with aspects of hazardous waste including ship-breaking.

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