ZIYAD ALI Vs. COMMISSIONER OF POLICE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The above impressive pictures of models wearing uniform and insignia of Merchant Navy Captains attracted lot of aspirants to unauthorised Marine Technology Institutes, one such Institute is run by the appellant/petitioner herein against whom the Kochi City Police Commissioner issued prohibitory orders against conduct of the unauthorisd courses. When complaint was received against the petitioner/appellant by the City Police Commissioner, Kochi, about running of unauthorised marine courses, he sought clarification from the Director General of Shipping (DGS). The DGS through Ext.P12 letter produced in WP(C) No.1723/2011 clarified to the Police Commissioner that the Institute run by the appellant/petitioner is not approved by the DGS and so much so whatever be the Diploma awarded by the Institute, the students passing out from there will not get Continuous Discharge Certificate (CDC) and Seafarer's Identity Document without which they will not be entitled to get employment in Ocean going Ships and Vessels. Based on Ext.P12 clarification issued by the DGS, the Kochi City Police Commissioner issued Ext.P11 to the petitioner directing him to stop the courses, i.e. Diploma in Marine Mechanical Fitter course and Advanced Diploma in Marine Mechanical Fitter course, conducted in his Institute, wherein around 450 students are admitted. The petitioner challenged Ext.P11 prohibitory order issued by the Commissioner of Police, Kochi in the Writ Petition filed before the learned Single Judge of this Court, who declined stay against the prohibitory order issued by the Police Commissioner which led to virtual closure of the Institute. The petitioner therefore filed Writ Appeal No.110/2011 before us seeking permission to continue the conduct of courses on the ground that the above two Diploma courses are conducted by him with the affiliation to the Manonmaniam Sundernar University located at Thirunelveli, Tamilnadu, under their Distance Education Programme and he has also approval for the one course from the National Council of Vocational Training (NCVT). We felt that if the appellant/petitioner is conducting courses according to law with due approvals from statutory authorities, this Court should permit running of the Institute. However, since the matter is highly technical, we directed the Department of Ship Technology, Cochin University of Science & Technology, to conduct an inspection of the Institute and enquire into the course studies and report to this Court about the eligibility of the appellant/petitioner to run the Institute for conducting the Marine Diploma Courses. Besides this, we directed the State Police Chief to conduct enquiry about the other unauthorised Marine Technology Institutes run in the State without the approval of the DGS. A team chaired by Dr.K.P.Narayanan, Head of the Department of Ship Technology, Cochin University, with Dr.C.G.Nandakumar, Associate Professor, Department of Ship Technology, Cochin University and Mr.M.P.John, Deputy Chief Surveyor cum Senior Deputy Director General of Shipping (Tech.), Kochi as members submitted report stating that none of the courses run by the appellant/petitioner has approval from the DGS and the University under the Distance Education Scheme of which the appellant/petitioner is running the Institute also has not permitted the conduct of courses as on the date of inspection. The State Police Chief reported that there are as many as 13 similar Institutes in the State run without any approval from the DGS and some are proceeded against for cheating of students and for the balance the Police proposes to take action after this Court decides the matter. Since the decision in the Writ Appeal will render the Writ Petition itself infructuous, the Writ Petition is also posted for hearing along with the Writ Appeal.

(2.) We have heard learned counsel for the appellant/petitioner, and Adv.Shri.T.Sanjay, learned Standing Counsel for the Central Government and Director General of Shipping and also learned Senior Government Pleader appearing for the State and Police authorities.

(3.) Learned Standing Counsel for the Central Government and DGS supported the case of the Police by stating that all advertisements by the appellant/petitioner and other Institutions are misleading and innocent people are attracted to these Marine Institutes under the impression that they will qualify for good jobs in Ships on passing out of the course studies offered by the appellant/petitioner and other Institutes. According to the DGS, the Continuous Discharge Certificate or Seafarer's Identity Document issued by the DGS under the Merchant Shipping (Standards of Training, Certification and Watch Keeping for Seafarers) Rules, 1998 prescribed under the Provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 is a mandatory document required for those passing out of these Institutes with whatever courses they have studied for employment in any ocean going Vessel or Ship. The specific information furnished by the DGS to the Police as well as in this Court is that only three Institutes in Kerala, one run by the Cochin University of Science and Technology, another by the Cochin Shipyard and the third by name M/s.Euro Tech Maritime Academy, are the only Institutes approved by the DGS for running the courses entitling the qualifying students to serve in Ships. In addition to the above, there is one more Institute, which is said to be approved for conduct of few STCW courses. In short, the Institutes of the appellant/petitioner and the other unauthorised Institutes about which details are collected by the State Police do not have any recognition from the DGS. However, the very case of the petitioner is that they have not made any commitment to the student community joining their Institutes that they are eligible for CDC or Seafarer's Identity Document from DGS. On the other hand, appellant/petitioner's claim is that he is authorised by M.S.University located in Tamilnadu to conduct the courses under the Distance Education Programme which is what they are doing and the same is permissible in law. The first contention raised by the appellant/petitioner that he has not made any commitment to the students about the entitlement for CDC or Seafarer's Identity Document from DGS without which students passing out of his Institute cannot get employment in Ships is to be rejected outright because the pictures of the models wearing uniform and insignia of Merchant Navy Captain itself are so misleading to the entire student community who fall at the trap of the Institutes and join them hoping to get attractive employment in Ships. However, since the appellant/petitioner has produced agreement from the University authorising to conduct Distance Education Programme for various courses, we have to certainly consider whether the course studies conducted by the petitioner are legal in respect of which Police cannot take any action.