All India Master Foreign Going Ship and Others vs Union of India (UOI) and The Director General of Shipping

C.N. Ramachandran Nair, J.—This Writ Appeal is filed against the judgment of the learned Single Judge declining to relax the conditions imposed by the Director General of Shipping in the certificates issued to Appellants 2 to 5 and the members of the first Appellant Association.

We have heard learned Counsel appearing for the Appellants and learned Assistant Solicitor General appearing for the Respondents. The official from the Ministry, Mr. J.V.S. Bharathi, Radio Inspector, who is familiar with the subject, also appeared and explained to us the basis of issuing the certificates impugned in the Writ Appeal.

The Appellants are Skipper Gr.2 operating vessels mainly engaged in coastal shipping. Certificates of Competency as Masters of Ships issued to Appellants contain restrictions such as limit of operation up to 20 Nautical Miles from the base port. The Appellants'' case is that the restriction is arbitrary and it affects their right of employment. The learned Counsel appearing for the appellants submitted that some of the members of the first Appellant Association are also operating from base ports outside India and they are operating in deep sea much beyond the limit prescribed in the licence issued to them by the Director General of Shipping. According to the learned Counsel for the Appellants, some of the Appellants want to return to India and even those who are working in India want to have longer range of operation for their vessels. The specific contention is that many vessels under their captaincy have operational range beyond 20 Nautical Miles and the restriction hampers their employment and work. Their claim is that they should get licence for operating vessels up to 200 Nautical Miles from the base port.

After hearing both sides and the Ministry Official and after going through the judgment of the learned Single Judge, we do not think the Court can relax the conditions for issuing licence or interfere with the Director General of Shipping''s authority to fix qualification for issuing licence. However, what we feel is that considering the nature of operation of vessels from the base port, probably 20 Nautical Miles will be a very limited area. Basically vessels of the type below 500 Gross Tonnage may be fishing trollers, supply vessels, store vessels, oceanographic vessels, seismic vessels etc. We feel the range of operation of the vessels of the type in which the Appellants are entitled to be operated in the given case from a base port may be more than 20 Nautical Miles. The restriction should be liberalised so that the vessel in which a person employed can go upto the destination, which may be beyond 20 Nautical Miles. In other words, wherever relaxation is required to be made, we direct the Director General of Shipping to consider it within the limited ranges.

The Writ Appeal is therefore disposed of leaving freedom to Appellants 2 to 5 or to any of the members of the first Appellant to apply for relaxation of the restrictions, which will be considered based on the vessel in which they are employed or offered to be employed and extension of area of operation required. The relaxation should not be made in gross violation of the international conventions or norms prescribed by the Director General of Shipping.