 the merchant shippi~'g (amend~ent) 'lnl~,l979 billfurther to amend the metchant shipping act, 1958 be it 'enacted by parliament in the thirtieth year of the republic of xndia as follows:-1 this act may be called the merchant shipping (amendment) short act, 1979 title ferred to as the principal act),-44 of 1958 s 2 in section 21 of the merchant shipping act, 1958 (hereinafter re-amendment of section 21 (i) in the opening portion, for the word "either", the word "any" shall be substituted; (ii) in clause (b) the word "or" shall be added at the end; 10 (iii) after clause (0), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:--"(c) a co-operative society which satisfies the following requirements, namely:-2 of 1912 is (i) the co-operative society is registered or deemed to be registered under the cooperative societies act, 1912, or any other law relating to co-operative societies for the time being in force in any state; (ii) every individual who is a member of the c~perative society and where any other cooperative society is a member thereof, every individual who is a member of such other cooperative society, is a citizen of india  3 in clause (e) of section 25 of the principal act, after the words "a company" the words "or a co-operative society" shall be inserted amendmento! eec:tion 211 amendmento! section 26 4 in section 26 of the principal act, after the words"a company" 5 at both the places where they occur, the words "or a co-operative society" shall be inserted  5 in section 29 of the principal act,-amendment of mdion 29 (i) in the opening ·portion, after the words "a company", the words "or a cooperative society" shall be inserted; 10 (ii) in clause (a), for the words, brackets, letter and figures "or in the case of a company, whether the company satisfies the requirements specified in clause (b) of section 21", the words, brackets, letters and figures "or in the case of a company or a cooperative society, whether the company or the co-operative society satisfies the require is ments specified in clause (b) or, as the case may be, clause (c) of section 21" shall be substituted; (iii) in clause (d), after the words "the company", the words "or the cooperative society" shall be inserted amendmentof ection45 ~ in sub-section (2) of section 45 of the principal act, for the words, 20 brackets, letter and figures "or any company which satisfies the require· ments specified in clause (b) of section 21", the words, brackets, letters and figures "or any company or any co-operative society which satisfies the requirements specified in clause (b) or, as the case may be, clause (c) of section 21" shall be substituted 25 amend mentor etlon 441 7 in section 441 of the principal act, in clause (a) of the erpzanation, for the words' "company" includes a firm', the words, brackets, letter and figures - "company" includes a co-operative society, a firm' shall be substituted wk sabha co rri gel-mum to (10 be/as introduced in lok sabha) the l1ercha}j"'r shipping (~4mendivik'!t) bill, 1979 omit ", brackets, letter and figures" new delhi; 1 page 2, line'3 27 a'1d 28,-narch~-1~9'-179:&· :"_--_  phalguna 28: 1900 ( saka)  statement of objects and reasonsthe provisions of the merchant shipping act, 1958, do not permit the acquisition of an indian ship by a co-operative society in the interests of co_operative movement, particularly in the backward areas, government feel that any legal impediment in the way of co-operative efforts should be removed this would also help co-operative societies, partieularly in remote areas far away from mainland, to establish a supply, marketing and distributing system without depending on any commercial shipping line the bill seeks to achieve the above object nv:w delhi; the 19th february 1979 chand ram (44 of 1958) - - - - indian ships 11 for the purposes of this act a ship shall not be deemed to be ~n indian ship unless owned wholly by persons to each of whom either ot the following descriptions applies:-(a) a citizen of india; or reeister book (b) a company which satisfies the following requirements, namely:-- - - - - (v) the managing agents, if any, of the company are citizens of india or in any case where a company is the managing agent, the company satisfies the rl'quirements specified in sub-clauses (i), (ii) , (iii) and (iv) - - - - 25 every registrar shall keep a book to be called the register book and entries in that book shall be made in accordance with the following provisions: -- - - - (e) a company may be registered as owner by its name application tor reiitry 26 an appucation for the registry of an indian ship shall be made-(4) in the case of an individual, by the person requiring to be registered as owner or by his agent; (b) in the case of more than one individual requirmg to be 80 registered, by some one or more of the persons so requiring or by his or their agent; and (c) in the case of a company requiring to be so registered, by its agent; and the authority of the agent sha:l be testified by writing, if appoionted by an individual, under the hand of the person appointing him and, if appointed by a company, under its common seal - - - - - declaration of ownerahipon registry 29 a person shall not be registered as the owner of an indian ship or of a share therein until he or, in the case of a company, the person authorised by this act to make declarations on its behalf has made and signed a declaration of ownership in the prescribed form referring to the ship as described in the certificate of the surveyor and containing the following particulars: -(a) a statement whether he is or is not a citizen of india; or in the case of a company, whethel' the company satisfies the requirements specifled in clause (b) of section 21; - -   - (d) the number of shares in the ship in respect of which he or the company, as the case may be, claims to be registered as owner; and -     45 (1)     otderfor sale where ship has ceased to be an indian ship  (2) on receipt of such report, the central government may make an application to the h~gh court for a direction fo:- the sale to any citizen of india or any company which satisfies the requirements specified in clause (b) of section 21 of the property so transmitted -  -  offences by com_ panies 441 (1) if the person committing an offence under this act is a company, every person who, at the time the offence was committed, was in charge of and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly: provided that nothing in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment provided in this act, if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due dili gence to prevent the commission of such offence (2) notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an oftence under this act has been committed by a company, and it is proved that the oftence was committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be gull ty of that oftence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly explanation~-for the purposes of this section,--(a) "company" includes a firm or other association of individuals; and (b) "director" in relation tq a firm means a partner in the finn    - - - it  billfurther to amend the merchant shipping act, 1958    (shri clumd ram, minister of state in charge of the mtnibtry of shipping      and transport) 