PART VII
SEAMEN AND APPRENTICES

88. Power to classify seamen

Shipping masters

89. Duties of shipping masters
90. Fees to be paid
Apprenticeship to the sea service
91. Assistance for apprenticeship to sea service
92. Special provisions as to apprenticeship to the service
93. Manner in which contract is to be recorded
94. Production of contract to authorised person before voyage in ship

Seamen's employment offices

95. Business of seamen's employment offices
96. Supply or engagement of seamen in contravention of Act is prohibited.
97. Receipt of remuneration from seamen for shipping them prohibited
Engagement of seamen
98. Qualification for, and medical examination of, seamen
99. Prohibition of engagement of seamen in Indian port without discharge certificate
100. Agreements with crew
101. Form and contents of the agreement
102. Engagement of seamen where agreement is made out of India
103. Special provisions with regard to agreements with crew of Indian ship
104. Renewal of running agreements in certain cases
105. Changes in crew to be reported
106. Certificate as to agreement with crew
107. Copy of agreement to be made accessible to the crew
108. Alteration in agreement with the crew

Employment of young persons

109. Employment of children
110. Engagement of young persons as trimmers or stokers
111. Medical examination of young persons
112. Maintenance of list or register of young persons in a ship
113. Power to make rules respecting employment of young persons
Engagement of seamen by masters of ship other Indian ships
114. Engagements between seamen and masters of ship other than Indian ship
115. Power to prohibit engagement of person as seamen
116. Engagement of seamen outside India for Indian ship
117. Power to board ship and master seamen

Discharge of Seamen

118. Dischare of before Shipping Master
119. Certificate of Discharge
120. Certificate as to work of seamen
121. Discharge and leaving behind of seamen by masters of Indian ships
122. Wages and other property of seamen or apprentice left behind
123. Repatriation of seamen on termination of service at foreign port.
124. Discharge of seamen on change of ownership

Payment of Wages

125. Master to deliver account of wages
126. Disrating of seamen
127.Deductions from wages of seamen
128.Payment of wages before shipping master
129.Time of payment of wages
130.Settement of wages
130A.Certain undisbursed amount to be untilised for welfare of seamen
131. Master to give facilities to seamen for remitting wages
132. Decision of questions by shipping master
133. Power of shipping master to require production of ship's papers
134. Rule as to payment to seamen in foreign currency

Advance and allotment of wages

135. Advance of wages
136. Allotment notes respecting seamen's wages
137. Commencement and payment of sums allotted
138. Right to wages and provision
138 A. Working hours of Seamen
139. Right to recover wages and salvage not to be forfeited
140. Wages on termination of service by wreck, illness, etc.
141. Wages on termination of service by wreck, illness, etc.
142. Wages not to accrue during absence without leave refusal to work or imprisonment
143. Compensation to seamen for premature discharge
144. Restriction on scale of and change upon wages

Mode of recovering wages

145. Summary proceeding for wages
146. Restriction on suits for wages
147. Wages not recoverable outside India in certain cases
148. Remedies of master for wages, disbursements, etc.

Power of court to rescind contracts

149. Power of court to rescind contract between master, owner or agent and seaman or apprentice

Disputes between seamen and employers

150. Power to refer disputes between seamen and their employers to tribunals
151. Condition of service, etc to remain unchanged during tendency of proceedings before tribunal

Property of deceased seamen and apprentices

152. Master to take charge of the effects of deceased seamen
153. Dealing with and account of property of seamen who die during voyage
154. Master to pay and deliver property of deceased semen
155. Property or deceased seaman left abroad but not on board ship
156. Dealing with property of deceased seamen
157. Recovery of wages, etc. of seamen lost with their ship
150. Property of seamen dying in India
150. Payment over of poverty of deceased seamen by shipping master
150A.

Nomination

160. Disposal of unclaimed property of deceased seamen

Distressed seamen

161. Relief and maintenance of distressed seamen
162. Mode of providing for return of seamen to proper return port
163. Receiving distressed seamen on ship
164. Provisions as to taking distressed seamen on ship
165. What shall be evidence of distress
166. Indian consular Officer to decide return port to which or route by which seaman is to be sent
167. Power to make rule with respect to distressed seamen

Provisions, health and accommodation

168. Ship to have sufficient provisions and water
169. Allowances for short or bad provisions
170. Foreign going Indian ship to carry duly certificated cook
171. Weights and measures on board
172. Beddings, towels, medicines, medical stores, etc., to be provided
and kept on board certain ships
173. Certain ships to carry medical officer
174. Expenses of medical attendance in case of illness
175. Accommodation for seamen
176. Inspection by shipping masters, etc., of provisions, waters,
weights and measures and accommodation
177. Inspection by masters of provision, water and accommodation at sea
177A.Power to make rules to prevent accident, etc.,
Special Provision for the protection of seamen in respect of litigation
178. Meaning of serving seaman
179. Particulars to be furnished in plaints, etc.
180. Notice to be given in case of unrepresented seamen
181. Power to set aside decrees and orders passed against serving seaman
182. Modification of law of limitation where seaman is a party
183. Reference in matters of doubt to shipping masters
Provisions for the protection of seamen in respect of other matters
184. Facilities for making complaints
185. Assignment or sale of salvage invalid
186. No debt recoverable till end of voyage
187. Seamen's property not to be detained
188. Prohibition against solicitation by lodging house keepers
189. Ship not to be boarded without permission before seamen leave

Provisions as to discipline

190. Misconduct endangering life or ship
191. Desertion and absence without leave
192. Power to suspend deserter's certificate of discharge
193. Conveyance of deserter of imprisoned seaman on board ship
194. General offices against discipline
195. Smuggling of goods by seamen or apprentices
196. Entry of offences in official logs
197. Report of desertions and absences without leave
198. Entries and certificates of desertion abroad
199. Facilities for proving desertion in proceeding for forfeiture of wages
200. Application of forfeitures
201. Decision of question of forfeiture and deduction in suits for wages
202. Payments of fines imposed under agreement to shipping master
203. Seaman or apprentice not to be enticed to desert
204. Deserters not t be harboured
205. Stowaways and seamen carried under compulsion
206. Procedure where seamen not shipped in India is imprisoned on complaint of master or owner
207. Power to send on board seaman not shipped in India who is undergoing imprisonment
208. On change of master, documents to be handed over to successor
209. Transmission of documents on transfer of seamen from one ship to another
210. Leaving behind in India of seaman or apprentice engaged abroad
211. Deserter from foreign ships

Official logs

212. Official logs to be kept and to be dated
213. Entries in official log books how and when to be made
214. Entries required to be made in official logs
215. Offences in respect of Official logs
216. Delivery of official logs to shipping masters
217. Official logs to be sent to shipping master in case of transfer of ship or loss

National Welfare Board for Seafarers

218. Functions of National Welfare Board for Seafarers

88. Power to classify seamen—

The Central Government may make rules for the classification of seamen other than ship’s officers into different categories and for the prescription of the minimum manning scale of seamen of such categories for ships; and different scales may be prescribed for different classes of ships.

(a) to superintend and facilitate the engagement and discharge of seamen in the manner provided
in this Act;

(b) to provide means for securing the presence on board at the proper times of the seamen who are so engaged;

(c) to facilitate the making of apprenticeship to the sea service;

(d) to hear and decide disputes under section 132 between a master, owner or agent, of a ship and any of the crew of the ship;

(e) to perform such other duties relating to seamen, apprentices and merchant ships as are for the time being committed to them by or under this Act.

(f) to transmit the complaint of any dispute of a foreign seaman of a vessel, registered in a country other than India, in Indian territorial waters, with the master, owner or agent, to the competent authority of the country of registration and a copy of such complaint shall be forwarded to the Director-General, International Labour Organisation office.

90. Fees to be paid –

(1) The central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, fix the gees which shall be payable upon all engagements and discharges effected before a shipping master.

(2) Scales of the fees payable for the time being shall be conspicuously place in the shipping offices, and a shipping master may refuse to proceed with any engagement or discharge unless the fees payable thereon are first paid

(3) Every owner or master of a ship engaging or discharging any seaman in a shipping offices or before a shipping master shall pay to the shipping master the whole of the fees hereby made payable in respect of such engagement or discharge, and may for the purpose of reimbursing himself in part, deduct in repect of each such engagement or discharge from the wages of all person (except apprentices) so engaged or discharged, and retain any sums not exceeding such sums as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, fix in this behalf.
Provided that, if in any case the sums which may be so deducted exceed the amount of the fee payable by him, such excess shall be paid by him to the shipping master in addition to such fee.

(4) For the purpose of determining the fees to be paid upon the engagement and discharge of seamen belonging to foreign- going ships which have running agreements as hereinafter provided, the crew shall be considered to be engaged when the agreement is first signed, and to be discharged when the agreement finally terminates; and all intermediate engagements and discharges shall be considered to be engagements and discharges of single seamen.

91 Assistance for apprenticeship to sea services--- All shipping masters shall give to persons desirous of apprenticing boys not under fifteen years or age to the sea service or requiring apprentices not under that age for the sea service such assistance as may be in their power, and may receive from those persons such fees as the Central Governments may fix.

92 Special provisions as to apprenticeship to the sea services

(1) the apprenticeship of any boy to the sea service a shall be by contract in writing between the apprentice or on his behalf by his guardian, if the boy is a minor, and the master or owner of the ship requiring the apprentice.

(2) Every such contract shall be executed in duplicate in the prescribed form and in accordance with the rules made by the Central Government in this behalf;

(3) Every such contract shall be executed in the presence of, and shall be attested by the shipping master of the port, who shall, before the execution of the contract, satisfy himself—
(a) that the intended apprentice—
(i) understands the contents and provisions of the contract;
(ii) freely consents to be bound;
(iii) has attained the age of fifteen years; and
(iv) is in possession of a certificate to the effect that the physically fir for sea service;

(b) if the intended apprentice is a minor, that his guardian’s consent has been obtained to his being bound as an apprentice.

(4) Every such contract made in India and every assignment, alteration or cancellation thereof, and where the apprentice bound dies or deserts, the fact of the death or desertion shall be recorded in the manner specified in section 93.

93. Manner in which contract is to be recorded— For the purpose of the record—

(a) the master of owner of the ship to whom an apprentice to the sea service is bound shall transmit the contract executed in duplicate within seven days of the execution thereof, to the shipping master, who shall record one copy and endorse on the other the fact that it has been recorded and redeliver it to the master or owner;
(b) the master or owner shall notify any assignment or cancellation of the contract and the death or desertion of the apprentice to the shipping master, within seven days of the occurrence, if it occurs within India, or, as soon as circumstances permit, if it occurs elsewhere.

94. Production of contracts to authorised person before voyage in ship—
(1) The master of a ship shall, before carrying an apprentice to sea from a port in India, cause the apprentice to appear before the shipping master before whom the crew are engaged, and shall produce to him the contract by which the apprentice is bound, and every assignment thereof.

(2) The name of the apprentice, with the date of the contract and of the assignments thereof, if any, and the names of the ports at which the same have been registered, shall be entered on the agreement with the crew

(2) Where there is in existence at any part a seamen’s employment office, then, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other provisin of this Act, no person shall receive or accept to be entered on board any ship of the class prescribed under sub-section, unless such seaman has been supplied by such seamen’s employment office.

(3) The Central Government may make rules for the purpose of enabling seamen’s employment offices effectively to exercise their powers under this Act; and in particular and, without prejudice to the generality of such power, such rules may provide for—
(a) consultation with respect to any specified matter by seamen’s employment office s with such advisory boards or other authorities as the Central Government may think fit to constitute or specify in this behalf;
(b) the levy and collection of such fees as may be specified for any seamen’s employment office for registering the name of any seaman in any register maintained by it;
(c) the issue of directions by the Central Government to any seamen’s employment office with reference to the exercise of any of its powers;
(d) the supersession of any seamen’s employment office which fails to comply with any such direction.96. Supply or engagement of seamen in contravention of Act prohibited—
(1) A person shall not engage or supply a seaman to be entered on board any ship in India unless that person is the owner, master or mate of the ship, or is the agent of the owner or is bonafide the servant and in the constant employ of the owner, or is a director of a seamen’s employment office, or a shipping master.
(2) A person shall not employ for the purpose of engaging or supplying a seaman to be entered on board any ship in India, any person ,unless that persons is the owner, master or mate of the ships or is the agent of the owner or is bonaifde the servant and in the constant employ of the owner, or is a director of a seamen’s employment office, or a shipping master.
(3) A person shall not receive or accept to be entered on board any ship any seaman, if that person knows that the seaman has been engaged or supplied in contravention of this section or section 95.

97. Receipt of remuneration from seamen for shipping them prohibited— A person shall not demand or receive, either directly or indirectly, from any seaman, or from any person employment as a seaman, or from any person on his behalf, any remuneration whatever for providing him with employment, other than the fees authorised by this Act.

 

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