Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Act, 2017
No: 22 Dated: Aug, 09 2017
The Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Act, 2017
(Act No. 22 of 2017)
An Act to consolidate the laws relating to admiralty jurisdiction, legal proceedings in connection with vessels, their arrest, detention, sale and other matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Be it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-eighth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. Short title, application and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Act, 2017.
(2) It shall apply to every vessel, irrespective of the place of residence or domicile of the owner:
Provided that this Act shall not apply to an inland vessel defined in clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Inland Vessels Act, 1917, or a vessel under construction that has not been launched unless it is notified by the Central Government to be a vessel for the purposes of this Act: Provided further that this Act shall not apply to a warship, naval auxiliary or other vessel owned or operated by the Central or a State Government and used for any non-commercial purpose, and, shall also not apply to a foreign vessel which is used for any non-commercial purpose as may be notified by the Central Government.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
2. Definitions. - (1) In this Act,-
(a) "admiralty jurisdiction" means the jurisdiction exercisable by a High Court under section 3, in respect of maritime claims specified under this Act;
(b) "admiralty proceeding" means any proceeding before a High Court, exercising admiralty jurisdiction;
(c) "arrest" means detention or restriction for removal of a vessel by order of a High Court to secure a maritime claim including seizure of a vessel in execution or satisfaction of a judgment or order;
(d) "goods" means any property including live animals, containers, pallets or such other articles of transport or packaging or luggage irrespective of the fact whether such property is carried, on or under the deck of a vessel;
(e) "High Court", in relation to an admiralty proceeding, means any of the High Court of Calcutta, High Court of Bombay, High Court of Madras, High Court of Karnataka, High Court of Gujarat, High Court of Orissa, High Court of Kerala, High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh or any other High Court, as may be notified by the Central Government for the purposes of this Act;
(f) "maritime claim" means a claim referred to in section 4;
(g) "maritime lien" means a maritime claim against the owner, demise charterer, manager or operator of the vessel referred to in clauses (a) to (e) of sub-section (1) of section 9, which shall continue to exist under sub-section (2) of that section;
(h) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
(i) "port" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Indian Ports Act, 1908;
(j) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made by the Central Government under this Act;
(k) "territorial waters" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and Other Maritime Zones Act, 1976; and
(l) "vessel" includes any ship, boat, sailing vessel or other description of vessel used or constructed for use in navigation by water, whether it is propelled or not, and includes a barge, lighter or other floating vessel, a hovercraft, an off-shore industry mobile unit, a vessel that has sunk or is stranded or abandoned and the remains of such a vessel.
Explanation. - A vessel shall not be deemed to be a vessel for the purposes of this clause, when it is broken up to such an extent that it cannot be put into use for navigation, as certified by a surveyor.
(2) The words and expressions used herein but not defined and defined in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in that Act.
CHAPTER II
Admiralty Jurisdiction and Maritime Claims
3. Admiralty Jurisdiction. - Subject to the provisions of sections 4 and 5, the jurisdiction in respect of all maritime claims under this Act shall vest in the respective High Courts and be exercisable over the waters up to and including the territorial waters of their respective jurisdictions in accordance with the provisions contained in this Act:
Provided that the Central Government may, by notification, extend the jurisdiction of the High Court up to the limit as defined in section 2 of the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and Other Maritime Zones Act, 1976.