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Issues: (i) Whether the Chief Officer and crew of a foreign vessel could invoke the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 as seamen for recovery of wages by application in the pending suit; (ii) Whether the crew's maritime lien for wages survived confiscation of the vessel under the Customs Act, 1962.
Issue (i): Whether the Chief Officer and crew of a foreign vessel could invoke the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 as seamen for recovery of wages by application in the pending suit.
Analysis: The expression "seamen" in Section 3(42) of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 was held to extend to the crew of a ship to which the Act applies, including a foreign ship in Indian waters. The term "proceeding" in Section 146 was construed broadly to include an application, and not only a separately instituted suit. Since the application for wages was filed when the vessel stood under arrest and the suit was still in rem, the Court held that the claim could be entertained on merits even though the suit later became one in personam.
Conclusion: The claim for wages through the pending application was maintainable, and the crew were entitled to invoke the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958.
Issue (ii): Whether the crew's maritime lien for wages survived confiscation of the vessel under the Customs Act, 1962.
Analysis: A maritime lien was treated as a privileged claim attaching to the vessel, but the Court held that confiscation under the Customs Act is a proceeding in rem and, on confiscation, the goods or conveyance vest absolutely in the Central Government under Section 126 of the Customs Act, 1962. On that reasoning, the confiscation order was held to extinguish the crew's enforceable right against the vessel, so the maritime lien could not prevail against the vesting that followed confiscation.
Conclusion: The maritime lien for wages was defeated by the confiscation order, and the crew could not claim payment from the vessel or its proceeds.
Final Conclusion: The appeals were allowed, and the order directing payment of crew wages from the cargo sale proceeds was set aside, while the confiscation's effect on the vessel was affirmed.
Ratio Decidendi: A seaman's wage claim may be pursued by application in a pending admiralty proceeding if the vessel was under arrest when the proceeding was instituted, but a maritime lien cannot survive an absolute confiscation that vests the vessel in the Government under the Customs Act, 1962.
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