 statement of objects and reasonsthe coast guard act, 1978 came into force on the 19th august, 1978 this act is an amalgam of certain provisions from the border security force act, 1968, the army act, 1950 and the navy act, 1957 2 with a view to bring the provisions of the coast guard act, 1978 in conformity with the provisions of the army act, 1950, the navy act, 1957 and the code of criminal procedure, 1973, it is proposed to amend the act to provide, inter alia, the following, namely:— (a) inclusion of the rank of pradhan yantrik in the definition of the expression "subordinate officer"; (5) making the punishment for the offence of desertion more deterrent; (c) increasing the time-limit within which the trial of the offender should begin where more time is spent in investigation of an offence or the commission of an offence comes to light after a long gap of its occurrence; (d) increasing the existing time-limit during which trial of personnel ceasing to be subject to the act shall commence; (e) providing for punishment of officers below the rank of commandant by the director-general, coast guard and other authorities for expeditious trial of such officers for the offences which are of less serious nature; (f) regularization of absence of personnel punished with mulcts of pay and allowances; (g) admissibility of reports of certain scientific experts as evidence in a trial proceedings 3 earlier a bill, namely, the coast guard (amendment) bill, 1996 was introduced in the rajya sabha on 26th november, 1996 which was referred to the standing committee on defence and thereafter to the select committee the select committee made certain recommendations, some of which have also been incorporated in the proposed bill these include the forfeiture of all pay, salvage, prize money and allowances which have become due but have not been paid, in addition to certain other punishments which were proposed in the previous bill the proposed bill also increases the existing time-limit from six months to two years during which trial of personnel ceasing to be subject to the act shall commence 4 this bill seeks to achieve the aforesaid objects new deny george fernandes the 16th november, 2001 memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 11 of the bill seeks to insert a new clause (fa) in section 123 of the coast guard act, 1978, so as to provide for the manner in which proceedings may be initiated under section 57a 2 the matters in respect of which the rules may be made under the said provision relate to procedure the delegation of legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character annexure extracts from the coast guarb act, 1978(30 of 1978)      definitions 2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires, - |     |     |     |     |     ||------|------|------|------|------|(w) "subordinate officer" means a person appointed or in pay as a pradhan adhikari, a pradhan sahayak engineer, an uttam adhikari, an uttam sahayak engineer, an adhikari or a sahayak engineer of the coast guard; |     |     |     |     |     ||------|------|------|------|------|25 (1)      (2) every person who deserts or attempts to desert the coast guard shall, on conviction | desertion    ||--------------|| aiding       || desertion   |by a coast guard court, be liable to suffer imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years or such less punishment as is in this act mentioned |     |     |     |     |     ||------|------|------|------|------|51 (/) no person unless he is an offender who has avoided apprehension or escaped period of limitation for arrest or committed the offence of desertion or of giving false entry on enrolment or the offence of mutiny shall be tried or punished in pursuance of this act for any offence committed by him unless such trial commences within three years from the commission of such offence | trial    | of    ||----------|-------|| offences |       || under    | the   ||         |      || 52      | (/)   || trial,   | etc, |(2) no such person shall be tried for an offence, unless his trial commences within six months after he has ceased to be subject to this act: | a       | person    | who    ||---------|-----------|--------|| ceases  | to        | be     || subject | to        | the    || act    |           |        |provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall apply to the trial of any such person for an offence of mutiny or desertion |     |     |     |     |     ||------|------|------|------|------|56 punishments may also be inflicted in respect of offences committed by persons subject to this act without the intervention of a coast guard court in the manner stated in section 57 punishments otherwise than by coast guard courts      86 (j)      presumption as to certain documents (7) any document purporting to be a report under the hand of a chemical examiner or assistant chemical examiner to government upon and matter or thing duly submitted to him for examination or analysis and report, may be used as evidence in any proceeding under this act explanation—in this section, the term "books of a ship" shall include any official book, document or list purporting to contain the name or names of persons appointed to the ship 87 (/) when afy person subject to this act has been convicted by a coast guard court of any offence, such court may inquire into, and receive, and record evidence of any previous convictions of such person, either by a coast guard court or by a criminal court, or any previous award of punishment under section 57, and may further inquire into and evidence of previous convictions and general character record the general character of such person and such other matters as may be prescribed      123 (/)      power to ke rules (2) in particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such mane res rules may provide for,—     