A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) to produce the details of the investigation conducted so far into the allegation of illegal transshipment of catch by deep-sea trawlers. The court passed the directive on a public interest petition seeking a directive to constitute a special team consisting of officials from various national-level investigation agencies such as the ED (Enforcement Directorate), CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation), NIA (National Investigating Agency) and CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) under the supervision of the High Court or a retired High Court judge to probe the allegations of loss of billions of foreign currency earnings due to the country because of the unauthorised use of LoP (letter of permits) by foreign trawlers for operating in the Indian exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Seeks directive The petition sought a directive to stop the practice of transshipment of catch by licensed Indian trawlers operating in the high sea. The Centre had in an affidavit stated that preliminary investigation was conducted in the year 2009 and 2010 by the CBI. The court issued the directive after impleading the CBI as a respondent in the case. The petitioner had alleged that many of the LoP licence holding Indian companies transshipped their catch in the mid-sea either to U.S. trawler ships which had the capacity to process the catch in the ship itself or to bunkers in the nearby ports. These foreign trawlers were using the LoP as a shield to market their catch in the high seas against the interest of domestic fish markets. The Indian firms just remained proxy owners and they were paid commission from the huge profit made by the original firms that sell Indian fish in the international market.