The Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Wednesday sought the opinion of the Tamil Nadu government on Central Government's reply to a public interest litigation (PIL) on the alleged move to sell two naval ships to Sri Lanka.

A PIL filed by advocate B Stalin sought the court's intervention to cancel the Centre's move to sell two naval ships to Sri Lanka. It sought an interim injunction restraining the Centre from selling the warships to Sri Lanka.

The petitioner contended that Indian fishermen were attacked and killed by the Sri Lankan navy. The situation would worsen if the Sri Lankan navy got two warships from India.

On September 11 last year, the state government informed the court that though chief minister J Jayalalithaa had officially requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to clarify on the agreement and to cancel the reported move to sell the ships, it didn't get any reply from the Centre.

Last week, Mayank Joshi, deputy secretary (Sri Lanka), filed a counter on behalf of the Union ministries of external affairs and defence, stating that there was no proposal to sell warships to Sri Lanka. However, there was an agreement between Sri Lanka and Goa Shipyard Ltd for the sale of two offshore patrol vehicles (OPVs) to that country, the Centre's counter said. The agreement was signed in May 2013 after two years of negotiations.

Further, this was expected to enhance maritime security in the Indian Ocean region for mutual benefit and the OPVs would carry out surveillance in Sri Lanka's exclusive economic zone, the reply said.

The Centre's counter said the Indian Navy and Coast Guard were continuously patrolling the International Maritime Boundary Line by using ships and aircraft for the safety of Indian fishermen. There were no incidents of Indian fishermen's death on the high seas after April 2011. Thus, the apprehension of the petitioner was baseless and the PIL was liable to be dismissed, the Centre argued.

When the matter came up for further hearing on Wednesday, the Madras high court sought the state government's opinion.(Times of India)