Halul Offshore Services Company vs Abs Anokhi
2021 Latest Caselaw 11275 Bom

                                                                  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

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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

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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

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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

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communication from the Plaintiff's Advocate or from the date of

knowledge of abandonment of vessel.

                                 ( B. P. COLABAWALLA, J. )




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