India: Obstructing inspections at Maritime Institutes

The Directorate General of Shipping, India has issued a circular regarding misbehavior and obstructing surveyors from conducting inspection of Maritime Training Institutes.

The Directorate, vide DGS Order No. 5 & 7 of 2016, has issued Comprehensive Guidelines and Procedures to obtain approval from the Director General of Shipping for the conduct of approved Pre-Sea and Modular, Simulator & Post-Sea Competency Courses for training of Seafarers in India.

The Directorate has issued a compendium of Training Orders, Circulars and guidelines as Training Manual on 25.10.2018.

The Directorate has issued Guidelines for Comprehensive Inspection Programme (CIP) of MTIs conducting various Maritime Courses such as Pre-Sea Courses, Competency courses, and Modular Courses vide DGS Order 23 of 2014, DGS Order 4 of 2016, and Training Circular 33 of 2018.

The Directorate has issued further guidelines on Infrastructure and Exit Exam, etc., via various DGS Orders/Circulars/Guidelines.

It has come to the notice of the Directorate that a few Maritime Training Institutes have obstructed inspection being carried out by surveyors of MMDs. These MTIs have been found in violation of obstructing Public Servants in the discharge of public functions, which comes under Section 186 in the Indian Penal Code, 1860, as amended.

Section 186 - Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions
Whoever voluntarily obstructs any public servant in the discharge of his public functions shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months, or with a fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both.

The Central Government, vide order No. S.0.3144 dated 17.12.1960, published in the Official Gazette of India, has delegated the functions to be performed by the Central Government under section 79(2) of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, to be performed by the Director General of Shipping (DGS), Government of India. Besides, for monitoring maritime education and training in India, in exercise of powers conferred under sections 87, 98, 457, and 458 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, vide gazette Notification G.S.R.191(E) dated 20.04.1998, the Government has notified the "Merchant Shipping (Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Seafarers) Rules, 1998" and updated it in the year 2014. This Rule deals with various aspects of maritime education, training, and certifications in the Country and empowers the DGS to regulate and supervise the training programs so as to make our Seafarers compliant with the International standards as required by the STCW convention. By virtue of the above provisions of law and notification of the DGS has got power to regulate all training programs, including studies conferring diploma and degree regulations, are issued in compliance with STCW convention so that the candidates passed out from the approved institutes become fully eligible for the examination to obtain the COC, which is a statutory requirement under Section 78 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1958, r/w Rule 5 of STCW Rules 2014. Thus, the guidelines, training circulars, and orders are issued to monitor and regulate the maritime institutes.

In view of the above, this is to inform all MTIs that in case any MTI is found involved in obstructing Surveyors or any other agency authorized and duly appointed for the task of inspection or any duty by the DGS for the conduct of inspection of Maritime Training Institute, the Directorate will take serious action like Permanent Withdrawal of all the approvals, exercising the powers of Shipping (Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Seafarers) Rules, 2014, notified under Section 98, 456, 457, and 458 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, as amended.

The circular was issued on 31 August 2023.

For more information, please see the document below (available only to subscribers):