J.O.L.18201.21..doc
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
ADMIRALTY AND VICE ADMIRALTY JURISDICTION
ANJALI Digitally signed by
ANJALI TUSHAR
IN ITS COMMERCIAL DIVISION
TUSHAR ASWALE
Date: 2021.08.18
ASWALE 17:51:22 +0530
JUDGES ORDER (L) NO. 18201 OF 2021
IN
COMMERCIAL ADMIRALTY SUIT (L) NO.18200 OF 2021
Halul Offshore Services Company WLL ..... Plaintiff
Vs.
ABS Anokhi (IMO No.9328247) ..... Defendant
Mr. Prashant S. Pratap, Senior Advocate a/w Nishaan Shetty,
Advocate i/b Mr. Kaushik S Krishnaswamy, Advocate, for the
Plaintiff.
CORAM:- B. P. COLABAWALLA,J.
DATE :- AUGUST 18, 2021.
P. C.:
Mentioned. Not on board. Circulation granted at 5.15 p.m. in view of the urgency made out.
2 By the present suit the Plaintiff seeks judgment and decree against the Defendant vessel and the arrest, condemnation Aswale 1/6 J.O.L.18201.21..doc and sale of the Defendant vessel for securing and / or satisfying Plaintiff's claim in the amount of USD 942,480.00 plus interest till the date of the suit aggregating to USD 190,796.12 and costs of USD 25,000.00. According to the Plaintiff they had chartered their vessel Halul 27 to ABS Marine Services Pvt. Ltd. as charterers under a Bareboat Charterparty dated 4 August 2015. The Plaintiffs have a claim for unpaid hire charges in the amount of USD 942480.00. The Charterparty also provides for interest to be paid at the rate of 6% per annum if there is any delay in payment of hire charges. According to the Plaintiff their claim for unpaid charter hire charges is a maritime claim falling under Section 4(1)
(h) of the Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Act, 2017. According to the Plaintiff they are entitled to arrest any vessel owned by the charterer ABS Marine Services Pvt. Ltd. According to the Plaintiff the Defendant vessel ABS Anokhi is owned by ABS Marine Services Pvt. Ltd. In the circumstances the Plaintiff seeks an order of arrest of the vessel ABS Anokhi which is presently lying at JNPT, Nhava Sheva within the Admiralty Jurisdiction of this Court.
3 I have heard the Ld. Senior Counsel appearing on
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J.O.L.18201.21..doc
behalf of the Plaintiff and also considered the averments made in the Plaint and the documents annexed. On going through the Plaint and the annexures thereto I fnd that a prima facie case for arrest of the Defendant vessel in made out. It is apparent that the Plaintiff's claim is a maritime claim arising under a charterparty which is an Agreement relating to the hire of the Plaintiff's vessel by the owners of the Defendant vessel. The claim is for unpaid charter hire charges and therefore squarely falls within the meaning of maritime claim as defned under section 4(1)(h) of the Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Act, 2017.
4 For securing their claim the Plaintiff is entitled to seek arrest of any vessel within jurisdiction which is owned by the person who is liable for the claim. The liability for the claim is that of ABS Marine Services Pvt. Ltd. as charterers of the Plaintiff's vessel and ABS Marine Services Pvt. Ltd. are the owners of the Defendant vessel.
5 In these circumstances I fnd that there is no doubt that there is a cause of action in favour of the Plaintiff and that the Aswale 3/6 J.O.L.18201.21..doc vessel being at JNPT, Nhava Sheva is within the Admiralty Jurisdiction of this Court. Plaintiff has made out an ample prima facie case. The balance of convenience also lies with the Plaintiff to whom in my view almost irrevocable prejudice would be caused if the arrest sought was to be denied. Accordingly I order and direct the arrest of the Defendant vessel ABS Anokhi (IMO No.9328247) alongwith her hull, tackle, engines, gears, plant, machinery, articles, things, apparel, equipment, stores, furniture and fxtures and all other paraphernalia on board, which vessel is presently lying at JNPT, Nhava Sheva, until the satisfaction of the Plaintiff's claim.
6 I therefore make an order in terms of the Judges order which is separately signed.
7 There is no caveat fled against the arrest of the vessel as is apparent from the caveat book which has been produced and this position is confrmed by the Court Associate. 8 Liberty to communicate the passing of the order to all concerned authorities including JNPT Port and Customs and also Aswale 4/6 J.O.L.18201.21..doc to the Sheriff of Mumbai.
9 Liberty to the Plaintiff's Advocate to serve a copy of this order as well as the Judges order on the Port and Customs and other authorities as well as the agents of the Defendant vessel and the Sheriff of Mumbai and all are directed to act upon the digitally signed copy of this order which may be served by email and / or fax.
10 The Undertaking of the Plaintiff's Advocate that the warrant of arrest will be served upon the Defendant vessel within a period of four weeks from today is accepted. 11 After service of this order of arrest, if the arrested vessel is not released by furnishing security or bail amount within 6 weeks of service, or an application for vacating the order of arrest is not fled, or the vessel is found abandoned by the person in-charge of the vessel or owner, or is found unmanned, then, in such an event, on an application being made by the Plaintiff, the offce of the Sheriff of Mumbai shall present a Sheriff's report for auctioning the vessel within 14 days from the date of receiving Aswale 5/6 J.O.L.18201.21..doc communication from the Plaintiff's Advocate or from the date of knowledge of abandonment of vessel.
( B. P. COLABAWALLA, J. )
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