Draw up map of HPCL refinery area, orders HC

Observing that security scenarios keep changing every month, the Bombay high court has demanded that a map of the area around the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) refinery at Mahul in Chembur be produced before it.

A division bench comprising justices SA Bobade and RD Dhanuka observed that refineries, which are “a class by itself”, are soft targets for the country’s economy as well as defence.

As it heard a petition filed by the HPCL seeking action against a high-rise coming up near its refinery in Chembur and on land owned by the Oswal Agro Mills, the court added the ministry of home affairs as a respondent to get the Intelligence Bureau’s (IB) say on the current security scenario of the HPCL’s refinery.

The IB had warned in a confidential report, submitted a couple of months ago, that “permitting a residential-cum-commercial building on Respondent 20’s (Oswal) land would be a serious threat to the refinery and installations of the petitioner.”

The HC has asked the parties involved to draw up a map showing distances from the refinery and the buffer zone.