In January 2014, during the hearing of a public interest litigation which opposed the plan to scrap the ship, the Union Ministry of Defence told the Bombay High Court that it had completed its operational life.
While the Maharashtra government stated that to preserve it as a museum would not be viable financially.
The High Court subsequently dismissed the PIL.
The Majestic-class aircraft carrier, purchased from Britain in 1957, played a key role in enforcing the naval blockade of East Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.