SLOVESNOV VADYM Vs. OSV BEAS DOLPHIN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Two Suo Moto Show Cause Notices No. 1 and 2 of 2020 were issued against the Contemnors Dolphin Offshore Shipping Ltd., Mumbai, Dolphin Offshore Enterprises (Mauritius) Pvt. Ltd., owners of the Defendant vessel OSV BEAS DOLPHIN and its Directors Rear Admiral (Retd.) Kripal Singh, Mr. Navpreet Singh and Mr. Satpal Singh and two other Directors based in Mauritius. Mr. Satpal Singh and Mr. Navpreet Singh are present in Court today. Rear Admiral (Retd.) Kripal Singh was exempted from personal appearance in view of his age and health conditions. The other two Mauritius based Directors have not been served and are not represented.

(2.) The contempt is of the orders of this Court dated 6 November 2019, 3 December 2019 and 18 December 2019 which record Undertakings by Mr. Navpreet Singh on behalf of himself as well as the Directors of the two companies to make payment of the crew wages as claimed in Commercial Admiralty Suit (L) No.63 of 2019 aggregating to USD 108,810.00. Mr. Navpreet Singh has also not complied with the Undertakings contained in his Affdavit dated 6 January 2020 by which he had undertaken to make payment of the crew wages and also undertaken that the post-dated cheques issued by Dolphin Offshore Shipping Ltd. of which he was a Director, would be honoured on presentation.

(3.) It is submitted on behalf of the Contemnors that they gave the Undertaking bona fde and in good faith and had every intention to comply with the same and the breach of the Undertaking was not willful or intentional. According to the Affdavit fled by Mr. Navpreet Singh dated 12 March 2020 in reply to the two Show Cause Notices, Dolphin Offshore Enterprises (Mauritius) Pvt. Ltd. owners of the Defendant vessel OSV BEAS DOLPHIN, was in the process of selling their vessel AHT Divine Dolphin and the sale transaction was expected to be completed prior to 30 November 2019. It was on this expectation that the monies would be imminently received from the sale of their vessel that he gave the Undertaking to make payment of the wages claimed by the Plaintiffs. According to Mr. Navpreet Singh the sale was delayed and hence they sought further time to make payment which was granted. Eventually out of the sale proceeds a sum of USD 600,000.00 (approximately Rs.4.2 crores) was remitted on 10 December 2019 to the bank account of Dolphin Offshore Shipping Ltd., Mumbai who were the managers and agents of the Defendant vessel from which the payment as per the Undertaking was to be made to the Plaintiffs. However the bank account was attached by the Joint Commissioner of State Tax on 11 December 2019 and could not be operated and payment could not be made from the said account. Attempts were made by Mr. Navpreet Singh to settle the disputes with the Tax authorities and on the expectation that this settlement would happen by 24 December 2019, 3 post- dated cheques all dated 26 December 2019 were issued to the Advocates for the Plaintiff for the Plaintiff's wages and other Sheriff's expenses incurred by the P & I Club Marine Mutual Insurance Association (NZ) Ltd. However the issues with the Tax authorities could not be resolved and the bank account remained attached and as a result the cheques could not be honoured on presentation.