The Hindu Business Line : Seamens' union to move SC against ruling on DG order

THE Forward Seamens' Union of India (FSUI), the CITU-affiliated union for seafarers, is to appeal to the Supreme Court against the Calcutta High Court order upholding the notification issued by the Director General of Shipping on March 27, 2001, liberalising the employment market for seamen.

The General Secretary of CITU, Dr M.K. Pandhe, told Businesss Line that FSUI would go to the Supreme Court against the Calcutta High Court order as "a lot of unfair practices are now being indulged in by shipowners in the name of providing employment to seamen''.

He said that he himself was yet to see the Calcutta High Court order but had been told that it had dismissed the petition filed by FSUI last year against the DG Shipping's order. Dr Pandhe complained that the seamen's employment offices in major Indian ports would often work in connivance with the shipowners to perpetrate unfair practices.

He pointed out that quite often the Indian seamen would be made to travel to places like Dubai in the garb of tourists only to be picked up by the shipowners for jobs at a much lower than the minimum stipulated wages "in violation of all established norms and practices''. There were several others ways of illegal recruitments, sadly, with full knowledge of the authorities concerned, he said. FSUI would like to bring to the notice of the apex court to all this illegal practices, he observed.

In a notification issued on March 27, 2001,the DG Shipping had suggested abolition of employment offices in the ports of Calcutta, Chennai and Mumbai as well as general rosters of seamen in these ports. The notification provided that henceforth, the shipowenrs would be free to recruit seamen of their choice provided the seamen satisfied the qualification and other criteria. Thus, in one stroke, the DG Shipping virtually made the seamen's employment market free for all, he said.

One implication of the order would be that the ship owners could recruit seamen from any place irrespective of the port of registration of the ships. This is not the case now. At present, ships registered in Calcutta (or Chennai) are required to recruit seamen registered with the employment office in Calcutta (or Chennai as the case may be).

FSUI filed a writ petition in Calcutta High Court on April 26, 2001, challenging the DG Shipping's order.

On April 4, 2002, Mr Justice A. Ganguly of Calcutta High Court passed an order dismissing the FSUI's petition and upholding the DG Shipping order.

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