India's The Hindu newspaper said Nils-Axel Morner, a Swedish academic had disputed claims of Indian Ocean sea level increases.
Morner is a key critic of claims that there is a rapid rise in sea levels due to global warming caused by human burning of fossil fuels.
The newspaper quoted him as saying that tide gauges in Mumbai and Vishakhapatnam had recorded a significant sea level drop during 1955-1962 followed by stable sea level in the next nearly five decades.
In Lakshadweep, he had said, the locals were seeing that the sea levels was not rising but rather, new land had been added.
"In conclusion, he said there was no rise in sea level in the Indian Ocean," the newspaper said.
Morner was speaking at a conference on 'Shifting science and changing policy, hosted by the Centre for Extra Mural Studies at Mumbai University, the newspaper said.
The Intergovernmental Panel on