Avant Garde Vessel to be Released or Not to Release Court Decision Today

When the case came up on the 9^th November 2016 , Galle Chief Magistrate  Nilupuli Lankapura told court that he had no objection for the release of the ship as pleaded by the respondent company.

The state counsel said the ship might be released on a surety bond of 200 thousand dollars and permission should be obtained from court as to what should be done to the ship after the release.

In Response  the lawyers  appearing for the respondent firm said,  that the company had already incurred  over Rs 77 million for maintenance and  surety bond of US Dollars  200, 000 is  excessive. Further Lawyers said,  the ship was 30 years old and they  would boot out of the responsibility of maintenance of the ship and in the event of any damage caused to the ship effecting environmental destruction to the sea, the government was responsible as the ship was under the custody of the state.

The Order as to whether the Avant Garde vessel anchored in the Galle port as a case object should be released or auctioned is scheduled to be given today.