(4)
The master of every such ship, within forty-eight hours after
the ship’s arrival at the port in India at which the crew
is to be discharged, deliver such agreement to a shipping master
at the port; and such shipping master shall thereupon give to
the master a certificate of such delivery; and no customs collector
shall clears any such ship inwards without the production of such
certificate.
107
Copy of agreement to be made accessible to the crew- The master
shall, at the commencement of every voyage or engagement, cause
a legible copy of the agreement, if necessary, a certified translation
thereof in a language understood by the majority of the crew (omitting
the signatures) to be place or posted up in such part of the ship
as to be accessible to the crew.
108
alteration in agreement with the crew- Every erasure, interlineation
or alaternation in any agreement with the crew (except additions
made for the purpose of shipping substitutes or persons engaged
subsequently to the first departure of the ship) shall be wholly
inoperative,[unless proved to have been made with the consent
of-
(a)
all the persons interested in such erasure, interlineation alteration
by the written attestation, if made in India, of some shipping
master, or customs collector; or
(b)
an Indian consular officer, if made out of India].
Employment
of young persons
109
Employment of children-No person under fifteen years of age shall
be engaged or carried to sea to work in any capacity in any ship,
except-
(a)
in a school ship, or training ship. in accordance with the prescribed
conditions; or
(b)
in a ship in which all persons employed are members of one family;
or
(c)
in a home-trade ship of less than two hundred tons gross; or
(d)
where such person is to be employed on nominal wages and will
be in the charge of his father or other adult near male relative.
110
Engagement of young persons as trimmers or stokers
–(1)
save as otherwise provided in sub-sections (2) and (3), no young
person a shall be engaged or carried to sea to work as a trimmer
or stocker in any ship.
(2)
Sub-section (1) shall not apply-
(a)
to any work of trimming or stocking done by a young person in
a school ship or training ship in accordance with the prescribed
conditions; or
(b)
to any work of trimming or stoking done by a young person in a
ship which is mainly propelled otherwise than by steam; or
(c)
to the engagement or carrying to sea of a person over sixteen
years of age to work as a trimmer or stoker on a coasting ship,
provided he is employed in accordance with the prescribed conditions.
(3)
Where in any port a trimmer or stoker is required for any ship
other than a coasting ship, and no person over eighteen years
of age is available, two young persons over sixteen years of age
may be engaged and carried to sea to do the work which would otherwise
have been done by one person over eighteen years of age.
(4)
There shall be included in every agreement with the crew in ships
to which this section applies a short summary of the provisions
of this section.
111
Medical examination of young persons-(1) Save as otherwise provided
in sub-section (2), no young person shall be engaged or carried
to sea to work in any capacity in any ship, unless there has been
delivered to the master a certificate granted by a prescribed
authority that the young person is physically fit to be employed
in that capacity.
(2)
Sub-section (1) shall not apply,-
(a)
to the employment of a young person in a ship in which all persons
employed are members of one family; or
(b)
where the shipping master, on the ground of urgency, has authorised
a young person to be engaged and carried to sea, without the certificate
required by sub-section (1) being delivered to the master, and
the young person is not employed beyond the first port at which
the ship in which he is so engaged calls except in accordance
with the provisions of sub-section (1).
(3)
A certificate of physical fitness required under this section
shall remain in force for one year only from the date on which
it is granted.
112
Maintenance of list or register of young persons in a ship-There
shall be included in every agreement with the crew of every Indian
ship and every other ship which engages young persons in India,
a list of young persons who are members of the crew, together
with particulars of the dates of their birth, and, in the case
of nay such ship where there is no agreement, the master shall
keep a register of young persons with particulars of the dates
of their birth and of the dates on which they became or ceased
to be members of the crew .
113
Power to make rules respecting employment of young persons-(1)
The Central Government may make rules prescribing-
(a)
the conditions of employment of young persons in nay capacity
in school ships and training ships, and the authorities by whom
and the manner in which the inspection of their work shall be
carried out;
(b)
the conditions of employment of young persons as trimmers or stokers
in coasting ships;
(c)
the authorities whose certificates of physical fitness shall be
accepted for the purposes of section 111; and
d)
the form of the register of young persons to be maintained in
ships where there is no agreement with the crew.
(2)
Rules under clause (b) of sub-section (1) shall be made after
consultation with such organisations in India as the Central Government
may consider to be most representative of the employers of seamen
and of seamen
.
Engagement
of seamen by masters of ships other than Indian ships.
114
Engagement between seamen and masters of ships other than Indian
ships-(1) When the master of a ship other than an Indian ship
engages a seaman at any port in India to proceed to any port outside
India, he shall enter into an agreement with such seaman, and
the agreement shall be made before a shipping master in the manner
provided by this Act for the making of agreements in the case
of foreign-going Indian ships.
(2)
All the provisions of this Act respecting the form of such agreements
and the stipulations to be contained in them and the making and
signing of the same, shall be applicable to the engagement of
such seaman.
(3)
the master of a ship other than an Indian ship shall give to the
shipping master a bond with the security of some approved person
resident in India for such amount as may be fixed by the Central
Government in respect of each seaman engaged by him at any port
in India and conditioned for the due performance of such agreement
and stipulations, and for the repayment to the Central Government
of all expenses which may be incurred by it in respect of any
such seaman who is discharged or left behind at any port out of
India is becomes distressed and is relieved under the provisions
of this Act.
Provided that the shipping master may waive the execution of a
bond under this section where the owner of the ship has an agent
at any port in India and such agent accepts liability in respect
of all matters for which the master of the ship would be liable
if he were to execute a bond under this section or may accept
from the agent such security as may be approved by the Central
Government.
(4)
the fees fixed under section 90 shall be payable in respect of
every such engagement, and deductions from the wages of seamen
so engaged may be made to the extent and in the manner allowed
under the said section 90
115
Power to prohibit engagement of persons as seamen- the Central
Government or any officer authorised by it in this behalf, if
satisfied that in the national interest or in the interests of
seamen generally it is necessary so to do, may, by order in writing
prohibit the owner, master or agent of any ship other than an
Indian ship specified in the order from engaging in India or in
any specified part of India, any person to serve as a seaman on
such ship.
116
Engagement of seamen outside India for Indian ships- With respect
of the engagement of seamen outside India, the following provisions
shall have effect :-
When
the master of an Indian ship engages a seaman at any port outside
India, the provisions of this Act respecting agreements with the
crew made in India shall apply subject to the following modifications
:-
(a)
at any such port having an Indian consular officer, the master
shall, before carrying the seaman to sea, procure the sanction
of the consular officer, and shall, if not contrary to any law
in force in that port, engage the seaman before that officer,
(b)
the master shall request the Indian consular officer to endorse
upon the agreement an attestation to the effect that it has been
signed in his presence and otherwise made as required by this
Act, and that it has his sanction, and if the attestation is not
made, the burden of proving that the engagement was made as required
by this Act shall lie upon the master.
117
Power to board ships and muster seamen- For the purpose of preventing
seamen from being taken on board any ship at any port in India
contrary to the provisions of this Act, any shipping master or
deputy or assistant shipping master or any director, deputy director
or assistant director of the seamen’s employment office,
may enter at any time on board any such ship upon which he has
reason to believer that seamen have been shipped, and may muster
and examine the several seamen employed therein.
Discharge
of seamen
118
Discharge before shipping master
-
(1) When a seaman serving in a foreign-going ship is, on the
termination of his engagement, discharged in India, he shall,
whether the agreement with the crew be an agreement for the voyage
or a running agreement, be discharged in the manner provided by
this Act in the presence of a shipping master.
(2)
The provision of sub-section (1) shall apply in relation to the
discharge of seamen serving in a home-trade Indian ship of two
hundred tons gross or more as they apply in relation to the discharge
of seamen serving in a foreign-going ship.
Provided that this sub-section shall not apply where a seaman
is discharged from a ship under an agreement made in accordance
with section 103 for service in two or more ships, for the purpose
of being engaged in another ship to which the agreement relates.
(3)
If the master, owner or agent of a home-trade ship, other than
a ship to which the last preceding sub-section applies , so desires,
the seamen of that ship may be discharged in the same manner as
seamen discharged from a foreign-going ship.
119
Certificate of discharge- (1) the master shall sign and give to
a seaman discharged from his ship in India, either on his discharge
or on payment of his wages, a certificate of his discharge in
the prescribed form specifying the period of his service and the
time and place of his discharge.
(2)
The master shall also, upon the discharge of every certificated
officer, whose certificate of competency has been delivered to
and retained by him, return the certificate to the officer.
