1[356A. Application
(1) Save as otherwise provided, this Part shall apply to--
(a) oil tankers of one hundred and fifty tons gross or more, other ships of four hundred tons gross or more and off-shore installations; and
(b) incidents of marine casualty or acts relating to such casualty occurring with grave and imminent danger to Indian coast line or related interests from pollution or threat of pollution in the sea by deliberate, negligent or accidental release of oil, ballast water, noxious liquid and other harmful substances into sea including such incidents occurring on the high seas.
(2) This Part shall not apply to any war ships or other ships owned or operated by the Government and used for the time being on Government non-commercial service.]
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1.Substituted for Section 356A to 356H by the Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Act, 2003. Prior to substitution, its read as under:
"356A. Commencement and application.--
(1) The provisions of this Part shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint, and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Part.
(2) This Pan shall apply to--
(a) tankers of one hundred and fifty tons gross or more;
(b) other ships of five hundred tons gross or more; and
(c) off-shore installations.
356B. Definitions.--
In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires,--
(a) "cargo" includes ballast and ship's stores and fuel;
(b) "coast" includes any island forming part of India;
(c) "coastal waters" means any part of the territorial waters of India, or any marine areas adjacent thereto over which India has, or, may hereafter have exclusive jurisdiction in regard to control of marine pollution under the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and other Maritime Zones Act, 1976, or any other law for the time being in force;
(d) "Convention" means the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil, 1954, signed in London on the 12th day of May, 1954, as amended from time to lime;
(e) "discharge", in relation to oil or oily mixture, means any discharge ore-scope, howevercaused;
(f) the expression "from nearest land" shall mean the baseline from which the territorial sea of the territory in question is established in accordance with the Geneva Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, 1958, except that in relation to north-eastern coast of Australia it shall mean from a line drawn from a point on the coast of Australia in lititute 11 'South, longitude 14208' East to a point in latitude 1035' South, longitude 14155' East--
thence to a point latitude 1000' South, longitude 14200' East
thence to a point latitude 910' South, longitude 14352' East
thence to a point latitude 900' South, longitude 14430' East
thence to a point latitude 1300' South, longitude 14400' East
thence to a point latitude 1500' South, longitude 14600' East
thence to a point latitude I800' South, longitude 147W East
thence to a point latitude 2100' South, longitude 15300' East
thence to a point on the coast of Australia in latitude 2442' South, longitude 253t15' East;
(g) "instantaneous rate of discharge of oil content" means the rate of discharge of oil in litres per hour at an instant divided by the speed of the ship in knots at the same .
instant;
(h) "mile" means a nautical mile of 1.852 metres;
(i) "off-shore installation" means an installation, whether mobile or fixed, which is used or is intended to be used for underwater exploration or exploitation of crude oil, petroleum or other similar mineral oils, under lease, licence or any other form of contractual arrangement and includes --
(a) any installation which could be moved from place to place under its own motive power or otherwise; and
(b) a pipe-line; (j) "oil" means -
(i) crude oil;
(ii) fuel oil;
(iii) heavy diesel oil conforming to such specifications as may be prescribed; and (iv) lubricating oil;
(k) "oily mixture" means a mixture with any oil content;
(l) "oil reception facilities" in relation to a port, means facilities for enabling vessels using the port to discharge or deposit oil residues;
(m) "ship" means any sea-going vessel of any type whatsoever, including a floating craft; whether self-propelled or towed by another vessel, making a seavoyage;
(n) "tanker" means a ship in which greater part of the cargo space is constructed oradapted for the carriage of liquid cargoes in bulk and which is not, for the time beingcarrying a cargo other than oil in that part of its cargo space.
PROVISIONS FOR PREVENTION OF POLLUTION
356C. Prohibitions as to discharge of oil or oily mixture.--
(1) No oil or oily mixture shall be discharged from an Indian tanker anywhere into the sea or from a foreign tanker anywhere within the coastal waters in India except where each of the following conditions is satisfied, namely ;--
(a) the tanker is proceeding en-route;
(b) the instantaneous rate of discharge of oil content does not exceed sixty litres per mile;
(c) the total quantity of oil discharged does not exceed 1 /15,000 part of the total carrying capacity of the tanker;
(d) the tanker is more than 50 miles from nearest land; and .
(e) the tanker is not within the designated areas notified as such under sub-section (6) ofsection 7 of the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone andother Maritime Zones Act, 1976 :
Provided that the provisions of this sub-section shall not apply to --
(i) the discharge of ballast from a cargo tank which, since the cargo was last carriedtherein, has been so cleaned that any affluent therefrom would, if dischargedfrom a stationary tanker into clean calm waters on a clear day, produce novisible traces of oil on the surface of the water; or
(ii) the discharge of oil or oily mixture from machinery space bilges, if any such discharge is made in compliance with the provisions of sub-section (2) as if it were made from a ship other than a tanker.
(2) No oil or oily mixture shall be discharged from an Indian ship other than a tanker anywhere into the sea or from a foreign ship other than a tanker within the coastal waters of India except where each of the following conditions is satisfied, namely :--
(a) the ship is proceeding en-route;
(b) the instantaneous rate of discharge of oil content does not exceed sixty litres per mile;
(c) the oil content of the discharge is less than one hundred parts per million parts of the oily mixtures;
(d) the discharge is made as far from nearest land as practicable; and
(e) the ship is not within the designated areas notified as such under sub-section (6) of section 7 of the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf Exclusive Economic Zone and other Maritime Zones Act, 1976.
(3) The discharge of oil or oily mixture into the sea from any off-shore installation is hereby prohibited.
356D. Prohibition not to apply in certain cases.--
Nothing in section 356C shall apply to --
(a) the discharge of oil or oily mixture from a ship or an off-shore installation for the purpose of--
(i) safety of such ship or off-shore installation; or
(ii) preventing damage to such ship or off-shore installation or cargo, if any, on board such ship or off-shore installation; or
(iii) saving life at sea;
(b) the escape of oil or oily mixture resulting from damage to or unavoidable leakage from a ship or an. off-shore installation if, after occurrence of the leakage, all reasonable precautions have been taken for the purpose of preventing or minimising such escape;
(c) the discharge of oily mixture from the bilges of a ship during the period of twelve months following the date on which this section comes into force.
356E. Equipment in ships to prevent oil pollution.--
For the purpose of preventing or reducing discharges of oil and oily mixtures into the sea, the Central Government may make rules requiring Indian ships to be fitted with such equipment and to comply with such other requirements (including requirements for preventing the escape of fuel oil or crude oil or heavy diesel oil into bilges) as may be prescribed.
356F. Oil record book.--
(1) Every Indian tanker and every other Indian ship which uses oil as fuel shall maintain on board the tanker or such other ship an oil record book in theprescribed form :
Provided that different forms may be prescribed for tankers and other ships.
(2) The manner in which the oil record book shall be maintained, the nature of entries to be made therein, the time and circumstances in which such entries shall be made, the custody and disposal thereof, and all other matters relating thereto shall be such as may be prescribed having regard to the provisions of the Convention.
356G. Inspection and control of ships to which the Convention applies.--
(1) A surveyor or any person authorised in this behalf may, at any reasonable time, go on board a ship to which any of the provisions of this Part applies, for the purposes of --
(a) ensuring that the prohibitions, restrictions and obligations imposed by or under this Part are complied with;
(b) satisfying himself about the adequacy of the measures taken to prevent the escape of oil or oily mixture from the ship;
(c) ascertaining the circumstances relating lo an alleged discharge of oil or oily mixture from the ship in contravention of the provisions of this Part; and
(d) inspecting the oil record book.
(2) The surveyor or any such person may, if necessary, make, without unduly delaying the ship, a true copy of any entry in the oil record book of the ship and may require the master of the ship to certify the copy to be a true copy and such copy shall be admissible as evidence of the facts stated therein.
356H. Information regarding contravention of the provision of the Convention.--
(1) If, on report from a surveyor or other persons authorised to inspect a vessel under section 356G, the Central Government is satisfied that any provision of the Convention has been contravened anywhere by a foreign ship, being a ship to which the provisions of the Convention apply, it shall transmit particulars of the alleged contravention to the Government of the country to which the ship belongs.
(2) On receipt of information from the Government of any country which has ratified the Convention that an Indian ship has contravened any provisions of the Convention, the Central Government may, if it deems it necessary so to do, request such Government to furnish further details of the alleged contravention, and if satisfied that sufficient evidence is available to establish contravention of any of the provisions of this Part or rules made thereunder take appropriate action against the owner or master and intimate the reporting Government of the action so taken."