Ahmedabad,DeshGujarat

It has been observed that seaman holding Seaman’s Card, issued by the Ministry of Shipping have been granted “Sign On” (obn board MSVs) by the Custom Authorities at seaports, without prior clearance by the Immigration officers of the concerned seaport which can be major security threat any day as lot of foreign vessels comes to Gujarat coast every day so the state of Gujarat had requested opening of up marine check posts on Gujarat coasts which the Ministry of Home Affaris(MHA) has reportedly accepted the proposal in principle and may formally clear the proposal very soon.

Seamen who depart on barges/dhows, at times, return back to India by air from the place where they sign off. On arrival at Immigration Check Post, such seamen present their Seaman’s Card to the Immigration officials as a travel document. Being Indian nationals, such crew members have to be cleared by the Immigration officials only, Custom Officers are not empowered in this regard to make any entry for “Sign on” in seaman Card.

However, there are numbers of seaports in India which are touched by foreign ships occasionally to discharge cargo. In Gujarat, the two prominent check posts are Okha and Kandla. Under provision of the Section 237 & 238 of the Merchant of Shipping Act 1958, these are declared as “Port from which an unearthed passenger ship may depart or proceed or at which it may discharge unearthed passengers. Besides this, the provisions of the passport(Entry into India) Act 1920 which makes it obligatory for both Indian and foreigners in India who depart from India to be in Possession of valid passport or travel document. (It may however, be mentioned that Rule 4 of the Passport (Entry to India) Act 1920 provides exemption from the operation of Rule 3 which requires that any person entering India must have a passport, since certain persons may not hold a passport viz. crew, seamen etc.).

Hence, seaman who depart from Indian sea shores for foreign countries without completing proper Immigration formalities and without presenting themselves before an Immigration Officer, flouts the law of the land. It may be reiterated that the Customs neither has the jurisdiction nor the authority to grant immigration clearance to such

departing seamen without proper checks. A function which needs to be carried out by the Immigration only. In this regard, where there is no office of the Bureau of Immigration, it is state Police which performs the immigration function on behalf of the Central Government yet not empowered by way of creating Sea Immigration Check Posts on coast of Gujarat State.

About 2000-Dhows-MSV operating from various ports of Gujarat State has been conducting voyage to Arabian/Somalian Countries. MHA, Government of India has also circulated the SOP for sign on and Sign off needs to be implemented in respect of movements of Dhows-MSVs operating from various ports of Gujarat. But at present there is no facilities to carry out immigration function at Mundra, Salaya, Okha, Veraval, Jafrabad and Pipavav ports. Under the circumstances mentioned above, there is acute needs to create Marine Immigration Check Posts with marine Police Station at Mundra, Salaya, Okha, Somnath (Veraval) Jafrabad and Pipavav ports for which sanction of GOI, MHA New Delhi is required. However, other logistic supports would be provided by the Gujarat State.

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