Sub-Division Load Lines
(1) Where grain is loaded on board any Indian ship anywhere or is loaded within any port in India on board any other ship, all necessary and reasonable precautions shall be taken to prevent the grain from shifting; and if such precautions as aforesaid are not taken, the owner or the master of the ship or any agent of the owner who was charged with the loading or with sending the ship to sea laden with grain shall be guilty of an offence under this sub-section and the ship shall be deemed for the purposes of this Part to be unsafe by reason of improper loading.
(2) Where any ship which is loaded with grain outside India without all necessary and reasonable precuations having been taken to prevent the grain from shifting, enters any port in India so laden, the owner or master of the ship shall be guilty of an offence under this sub-section and the ship shall be deemed for the purposes of this Part to be unsafe by reason of improper loading.
1[(2 A) Where grain is loaded on board an Indian ship in accordance with a grain loading plan approved under section 331A or where grain is loaded on board any other ship in accordance with a grain-loading plan approved by or on behalf of the Government of the country in which that ship is registered, the ship shall be deemed, for the purposes of sub-sections (1) and (2), to have been loaded with all necessary and reasonable precautions.]
(3) On the arrival at a port in India from a port outside India of any ship carrying a cargo of grain, the master shall cause to be delivered at the port to such customs or other officer as may be specified by the Central Government in this behalf, a notice stating-
(a) the draught of water and free board of the said ship after the loading of the cargo was completed at the final port of loading;2[ * ]
2[(b) the kind of grain carried and quantity thereof stated in cubic feet, quarters, bushels or tons weight; and
(c) the mode in which the grain is stowed and the precautions taken to prevent the grain from shifting and where the grain has been stowed in accordance with the ship's grain-loading plan, if any, that it has been so stowed.]
3[(4) any person authorised in this behalf, by general or special order of the Central Government may, for securing the observance of the provisions of this section, go on board a ship carrying a cargo of grain and require the production of the grain-loading plan of the ship and inspect the mode in which the cargo is stowed in the ship.]
(5) The Central Government may, subject to the condition of previous publication,4[make rules in relation to grain-loading planse and the loading of ships] with grain generally or of ships of any class specifying the precautions to be taken, and when such precautions have been prescribed, they shall be treated for the purposes of this section to be included in the expression necessary and reasonable precautions".
(6) In5[section 331A and this section,] the expression "grain" includes wheat, maize, oats, rye, barley, rice, pulses and seeds, and the expression "ship carrying a cargo of grain" means a ship carrying a quantity of grain exceeding one-third of the ship's registered tonnage reckoning one hundred cubic feet or two tons of weight of grain as equivalent to one ton of registered tonnage.
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1. Inserted by the Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Act, 1966 (21 of 1966), section 28 (28-5-1966).
2. Word 'and' at the end of Clause (a), omitted and Cls. (b) and (c), substituted for former clause (b), by the Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Act, 1966 (21 of 1966), section 28 (28-5-1966)..
3. Substituted for former sub-section (4), by the Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Act, 1966 (21 of 1966), section 28 (28-5-1966).
4. Substituted for the words "make rules in relation to loading of ships", by the Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Act, 1966 (21 of 1966), section 28 (28-5-1966).
5. For Merchant Shipping (Carriage of Grains) Rules, 1969, section Gaz. of India, 1-2-1969, Part. II, section 3(1), p. 408.