SC agrees to hear PIL on INS Sindhuratna tragedy

The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a PIL seeking a court-monitored probe into the fire tragedy in submarine INS Sindhuratna and a compensation of Rs 1 crore each for relatives of the two Navy officers who died.

A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam, before whom the matter was mentioned for an urgent hearing, posted the case to March 28.

The petition claimed the officers died allegedly due to technical and maintenance failure of batteries in the submarine.

It sought a court-monitored probe to ascertain whether there was a timely provision of batteries and other safety equipment.

The PIL, filed by advocates Subrata Das and N Rajaraman, also sought a direction for producing the communication between the Defence Ministry and the Navy Command relating to the maintenance of submarines, particularly Sindhuratna.

Seven sailors were also injured when fire erupted on board Sindhuratna around 40 nautical miles off Mumbai on February 26.

Navy Chief Admiral DK Joshi resigned following the incident, taking moral responsibility.

The Navy had said that human miscalculation led to the fire that broke out on cables on Sindhuratna. The probe had mentioned a deviation from standard operating procedure.

The PIL sought court's direction to the Defence Ministry to submit the status report on the action taken by it on the requisitions concerning repairs and replacement of safety equipment of the armed forces.