A fundamental rights petition has been filed in the Supreme Court by four unions requesting the court to declare the agreement that handed over the 99 oil tanks and 700 acres of land in China Bay, Trincomalee to the Indian Oil Company (IOC) unlawful.
The Secretary of the Petroleum General Employees’ Union D.J. Rajakaruna at a media briefing has said that the petition requests the Supreme Court to order the handover of the oil tanks back to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC).
Rajakaruna said although the oil tanks and the land were handed over on a written agreement signed with the Indian Oil Company on February 7, 2003, the fundamental rights petition was filed based on the non-fulfillment of the condition that a lease agreement should be signed within a period of six months after signing the agreement.
Sri Lanka and India have, in principle, agreed to jointly operate the World War-era oil storage facility in Trincomalee.
The tank farm in 850 acres of land has 99 tanks each with the capacity to hold 12,100 metric tons of oil. Currently, Indian Oil Corporation’s subsidiary, Lanka IOC, engaged in bunkering operations, runs 15 out of the 99 storage tanks in the lower oil tank farm in Trincomalee.
Several representatives of the Sri Lanka Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya, Engineers’ Union and the Petroleum General Workers’ Union were present at the press briefing.
Courtesy: Colombo Page
