SABEEHA FAIKAGE Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners have lost their husbands/sons in a marine casualty and have filed this writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution complaining of the breach of the fundamental right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.

(2.) The facts very briefly are that the husbands of petitioner nos. 1, 2 and 3 and the sons of petitioner nos. 4 and 5 were recruited and placed through respondent nos. 4 and 5 to work as Seafarers on tugboat Jupiter-6 carrying the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. On 21.08.2005, Jupiter-6 along with its crew comprising 10 Indians and 3 Ukrainians, left Walvis Bay in Namibia and was towing a dead ship Satsung on its way to Alang in Gujarat in India. On 05.09.2005, Jupiter-6 went missing in the high seas. On 10.10.2005, respondent no. 4 informed the Director General of Shipping, Bombay, that it had received a distress signal from Jupiter-6 via its life saving radio equipment on board and a search was conducted from the place where distress signal originated, which was 220 nautical miles South of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, but Jupiter-6 could not be located. Pursuant to reports in a section of the media about the missing of Jupiter-6 since 08.10.2005, the Director General of Shipping, Bombay, issued a press release on 15.10.2005 that the Ministry of Shipping and Road Transport and Highways had alerted the Indian Coast guard which, in turn, has alerted the South African Search and Rescue Region as Jupiter-6 was last sighted near Cape Town in South Africa and that all efforts are being made to trace the crew members. On 25.04.2006, however, the respondent no. 4 sent a letter to the petitioners saying that all efforts to search the missing Jupiter-6 and her 13 crew members have proved unproductive and that the owners of the vessel are coordinating with the underwriters for nomination of local P & I correspondent who will deal with them for requisite compensation package and on getting further information from the local P & I correspondent, the petitioners will be informed of the further follow-up action to process the claims. Finally, the petitioners received the communication dated 17.08.2006 from the Government of India, Ministry of Shipping, Government Shipping Office, Mumbai, certifying that their husbands/sons were presumed to be dead.

(3.) The petitioners have prayed for inter alia a writ of mandamus/direction to the respondents to conduct an investigation into the mysterious disappearance of their husbands/sons who were on board Jupiter- 6. The petitioners have also prayed for an enquiry to find out what transpired between the Government of India and the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on account of which the Government of India has certified that their husbands/sons are presumed to be dead. After perusing the Merchant Shipping Notice No. 26 of 2002 dated 10.10.2002 issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Shipping, Directorate of the Director General of Shipping, (for short "M. S. Notice 26 of 2002"), this Court issued notice on 10.11.2006 in the writ petition to the respondents confined to the question as to whether the Maritime Administration of the State (India) was invited to take part in the marine casualty investigation as provided in para 4 of M. S. Notice 26 of 2002. In response to the notice, a counter affidavit was filed on 03.01.2008 on behalf of respondent nos. 1, 2 and 3 stating therein that they became aware of the casualty for the first time when they received a communication dated 10.10.2005 about the incident from respondent no. 4 and that the administration of the State (India) was not invited to participate in the investigation as per para 4 of M. S. Notice 26 of 2002.