The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday ordered the detention of MV Navios Venus, a cargo ship registered in Panama, that was involved in a collision with a mechanised fishing boat off the coast near Colachel in Kanniyakumari district. The ship is presently lying in Mumbai Port Trust.
The court was hearing the petition filed by P. Rajamani, the owner of the mechanised fishing boat. He said that the collision took place on October 22 at around 3 p.m., about 20 nautical miles off the coast near Colachel. A total of 17 fishermen on the fishing boat were fishing at the time of the incident.
Due to the impact, the fishing boat was severely damaged. Two fishermen suffered serious injuries while other fishermen suffered minor injuries. It was alleged that the cargo ship was operating in violation of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972.
The petitioner sought the detention of the ship under Section 443 (power to detain foreign ship that has occasioned damage) of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958. He said that if the vessel was permitted to sail beyond the territorial waters of India, the injured fishermen and the petitioner would be left without remedy.
Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy took note of the fact that a First Information Report had been registered at the Colachel police station with regard to the collision. Since the incident took place off the coast of Colachel, the cause of action appears prima facie to have arisen within the jurisdiction of the High Court, the judge observed.
Given the strong possibility of the vessel leaving India’s territorial jurisdiction unless detained, the court directed the Director General of Shipping, the Deputy Conservator of the Mumbai Port Trust and the Commandant of the Indian Coast Guard (Western Region) to detain the cargo ship for three weeks. The court adjourned the hearing till November 26.
