NARESH KUMAR AND ANR. v. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS

Citation: [2004] 3 S.C.R. 777

Court: Supreme Court of India

Bench: S.N. VARIAVA, H.K. SEMA

Case summary

NARESH KUMAR AND ANR. v. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.pdf

Judgment text

NARESH KUMAR AND ANR. v. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. APRIL 5, 2004 [S. N. VARIAVA AND H. K. SE:11A, JJ. ] Merchant Shipping Act, 1958: Section 80(since omitted)-Certificate of Sen1ice (COS)-Officers of Indian Navy were issued COS without any examination-Such COS saved under S. 5 ofAmendment Act of1986-Validity of-Held: After en/1)1into fore ofthe 1978 Convention as amended in 1995, such COS valid only temporaril;~ The governing provision is Art. VI ofthe Convention-Now there can only be Certificates contemplated by the Convention-Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Act, 1986, S. 5-Jnternational Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch Keeping far Seafarers, 1978 (as amended in 1995), ,-··· certificate of service to any person who proves himself to be entitled - oral assessment of 2nd Mate (FG) by a panel of examiners appointed 'I by Chief Examiners of Master & Mate from The Directorate General of Shipping, Ministry of Shipping.

On successful completion of the same the candidate will be issued with 2nd Mate (FG) certificate of competency (COC) endorsement "Limited to Vessel less than 3000 GT. NOTE (I) Suffix "E" indicates that the candidate has undergone the course but not passed the written examination. Therefore, such candidates are required to pass examination of Phase II subjects, namely, #• navigational Aids including compasses, Bridge Watch-keeping, Ship Handling & Emergencies, Engineering Knowledge. instruments & control systems, Naval architecture paper II & Maritime legislation (Total 5 Nos. ) prior to being considered eligible for Master's examination. This is required to facilitate such candidates fulfill the competence & eligibility criteria for Master's examination. (i) "Trading ships" in the merchant navy means tanker, bulk carrier, container ship, general cargo ship or passenger ship and such other ships which are used for carriage of cargo or passenger or both.

(ii) The assessment of approved sea time shall be carried out as per prescribed guidelines in META Manual Volume-I (Reference Section M-11/11) (iii) Successful completion of course means completion of the prescribed term of the respective courses and completion ot the process of internal assessment by any institute approved by the Directorate General of Shipping. )- (iv) Those who have completed the modular courses at any institute approved by the Directorate General of Shipping on or before ! st March 2001 would be accepted as having successfully completed the modular courses. (v) The expiry date for assessment of sea time eligibility criteria for officers in possession of Certificate of Service is 31st January, 2002. ,, " (vi) The panel of examiner, appointed by the Chief Examiner of Master & Mates shall include at least one external examiner from the industry, on the basis of the guidelines laid down for this purpose. " We order accordingly.

This bunch of petitions is being disposed of in the above terms. Parties are asked to bear their own costs. V. S. S. Matters disposed of.