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REGISTERED No. D-(D)-72

The Gazette of India

EXTRAORDINARY

PART II—Section 2

PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY

No. 44] NEW DELHI, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1977/AGRAHAYANA 24, 1899

Separate paging is given to this Part in order that it may be filed

us a separate compilation

L OK SABHA

The following Bills were introduced in Lok Sabha on the 15th

December, 1977 -

BILL N O. 145 OF 1977

A Bill further to amend the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Twenty-eighth Year of the

Republic of India as follows: —

1. This Act may be called the Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Act,

Short title.

1977.

Z. In section 14 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 (hereinafter refer- 44 Of 1068,

Amend- ment of sec- tion 14.

red to as the principal Act), after clause (b), the following clause shall be inserted, namely: —

"(bb) the amounts received by the said Committee on the issue

and sale of bonds and debentures,"

3 In sub-section (1) of section 15 of the principal Act, for the word

"six", the word "twelve" shall be substituted.

4. In section 16 of the principal Act,—

Amend- ment of sec- tion 15. Amend- ment of sec- tion 16.

(i) in sub-section (7), for the words and figures "in any other form to persons of the description mentioned in section 21 for

875

acquisition and maintenance of ships ", the following shall be substi- tuted, namely: —

"in any other form,—

(a) to persons of the description mentioned in section

21—

0) for the acquisition and maintenance of ships, including modification, reconstruction and renovation thereof; and

(ii) for meeting any short-term financial require-

ments,

(b) to Indian ship-yards for the construction of new

ships ",

(ii) for sub-section (2), the following sub-sections shall be sub-

stituted, namely —

1 of 1956.

"(2) The Committee shall not grant any loan or give any financial assistance under sub-section (1) except on such terms and conditions as the Central Government may, from time to lime, specify, and any such term may, if the loan or financial assist- ance is granted or given to a company, provide for the appoint- ment by the Committee of one or more directors of such com- pany and such provision and any appointment of directors made in pursuance thereof shall be valid and effective notwithstand- ing anything to the contrary contained in the Companies Act, 1956, or in any other law for the time being in force or in the memorandum, articles of association or any other instrument re- lating to the company and any provision regarding share qualifi- cation, age limit, number of directorships, removal from office of director and such like conditions contained in any such law or instrument aforesaid, shall not apply to any director appointed by the Committee in pursuance of the term as aforesaid.

(2A) Any director appointed in pursuance of sub-section

(2) shall,—

(a) hold office during the pleasure of the Committee

and may be removed or substituted by any person by order in writing by the Committee,

(b) not incur any obligation or liability by leason only of his being a director or for anything done or omitted to be done in good faith in the discharge of his duties as a director or anything in relation thereto,

(0) not be liable to retirement by rotation and shall not be taken into account for computing the number of directors liable to such retirement.

(2B) Every director appointed by the Committee shall bp Indemnified by the Committee against all losses and expenses incurred by him in, or in relation to, the discharge of his duties, except such as are caused by his own wilful act or default.

(2C) No suit or other legal proceeding shall lie against any director appointed by the Committee for any loss or damage caused or likely to be caused by anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act or any other law or provision having the force of law."

5. After section 16 of the principal Act, the following section shall be

inserted, namely —

Insertion of new sec- tion 16A.

Borrowing powers.

"16A. (1) The Committee may issue and sell bonds and deben- tures, with or without interest, for the purpose of carrying out the objects of the Fund

(°) The bonds and debentures of the Committee shall be guar- anteed by the Central Government as to the repayment of the prin- cipal and the payment of interest, at such rate as may be fixed by the Central Government on the recommendation of the Committee at the time the bonds and debentures are issued"

6. After section 17 of the principal Act, the following section shall be

inserted and shall be deemed always to have been inserted, namely: —

Insertion of new seo- tion 17 A

"17A Notwithstanding anything contained in any enactment for the time¹ being in force relating to income-tax or wealth-tax, the Com- mittee shall not be liable to pay—

Exemption from liabi- lity to pay income- tax and wealth- tax,

(

and

(b) wealth-tax m respect of its net wealth.".

V In section 18 of the principal Act, for the words "and thereupon all the property vested in the Committee shall vest in the Central Govern- ment", the following shall be substituted, namely —

Amend- ment of sec- tion 18.

''and thereupon—

(oi) all the property vested m the Committee shall vest in

the Central Government, and

(b) all the liabilities of the Committee shall become th?

liabilities of th-> Central Government "

8. In sub-section (2) of section 19 of the principal Act, after clause

(f\ the following clause shall be inserted, namely —

"(ff) the manner and terms of issue sale and redemption o^

Amend- ment of sec- tion 19.

bonds and debentures by the Committee;".

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

The Shipping Development Fund was formed in March, 1959 under section 14 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, with the object of faci- litating the growth of Indian shipping tonnage through grant of loans and financial assistance to Indian shipping companies for the acquisi- tion and maintenance of ships. The fund vests in the Shipping Deve- lopment Fund Committee which was constituted under section 1'5 of the said Act. This Committee consists wholly of government officers The Committee inter aha charges a documentation fee in respect of loans and guarantees given by it The Committee is a non-profit making orga- nisation and the earnings made by it are incidental to the work con- nected with the development ol shipping in India It is, therefore, felt that the Committee should be exempted from the payment of income- tax, wealth-tax and any other tax on income, profits or gains on its earn- ings retrospectively from the date of its constitution.

2 Section 15 of the Act states that the Shipping Development Fund Committee shall consist of a Chairman and such number of other members, not exceeding six, as the Central Government may think fit to appoint thereto. The activities of the Committee have since increased. It has become necessary, therefore, to provide for additional members. It is proposed to increase the number of members from six to twelve.

3 The corpus of the Shipping Development Fund mainly consists of amounts granted as loans by the Central Government It has been ob- served that such loans have not always been adequate to meet the en- tire requirements of the shipping industry for the expansion of maritime fleet It is, therefore, proposed to empower the Shipping Development Fund Committee to resort to public borrowings through the issue and sale of bonds and debentures.

4 At present, the shipping companies which obtain loans from the Committee are required to accept nommees of the Committee to serve on their boards as directors Hitherto, the nomination of such directors was being made by mutual agreement It is proposed to provide for making such nominations in the Act itself and that such directors will be granted immunity from legal proceedings in respect of acts done by them in good faith,

5. Loans from the Shipping Development Fund are granted to ship- owners who satisfy the requirements of section 21 of the Act. Indigenous shipbuilding capacity has been expanding and it is felt that provision may be made in the Act to enable loans being granted to Indian Ship- yards also for the construction of new ships

6. The shipping industry ib going through a difficult period all the world over due to a severe and prolonged depression in the freight mar- ket. Indian shipping companies are also experiencing financial diffi- culties It is felt that provision should be made for the grant of loans to shipping companies to rehabilitate them from temporary financial difficulties caused by circumstances beyond their control.

7. The other amendments proposed in Ihe Bill are minor and conse-

quential m nature.

8 The Bill seeks to achieve the above objects. NEW DELHI;

CHAND RAM.-

The 5th December, 1977.

MEMORANDUM REGARDING DELEGATED LEGISLATION

Clause 8 (if the Bill seeks to insert a new clause (ff) in sub-section (2) of section 19 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, to empower the Central Government to specify by rules the manner and terms of issue, sale and redemption of bonds and debentures, by the Shipping Develop- ment Fund Committee The matters in respect of which rules may be made under this provision are matters of detail and it is hardly prac- ticable to piovide forth 2m in the Bill itself. The delegation of legis- lative power is, therefore, normal in character.

BILL N O. 146 OF 1977

A Bill further to amend the Child Marriage Restaint Act, 1929, and to

make certain consequential amendments in the Indian Christian

Marriage Act, 1872, and the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Twenty-eighth Year of the Re-

public of India as follows. —

1. (i) Thif Act may be called the Child Marriage Restraint (Amend-

ment) Act, 1977

(2) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government Short title and com- mence- ment.

may, by notification m the Official Gazette, appoint

19 of 1929 2. In section 2 of the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 (hereinafter referred to as the pimcipal Act), for cleusc (a), the following clause shall be substituted, namely —

Amend ment of section 2

'(a) "child" means a person who, if a male, has not completed twenty-one years of age, and if a female, has not completed sixteen years of age;'.

3 After section 6 of the principal Act, the following section shall be

inserted, namely: —

"7. The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, shall apply to offences 2 of 1974.

under this Act as if they were cognizable offences—

(a) for the purpose of investigation of such offences, and

Insertion of new section 7, Offences to be cogniz- able for certain purposes.

(b) for the purposes of matters other than (i) matteis refer- red to in section 42 of that Code, and (u) the arrest of a person without a warrant or without an order of a Magistrate.".

4. In section 8 of the principal Act.—

Amend- ment of section 8.

1 of 1898.

2 of 1974.

(a) for the words and figures "Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898", the words and figures "Code of Criminal Piocedure, 1973" shall be substituted;

(b) for the words "Presidency Magistrate or a Magistrate of the first class", the words "Metropolitan Magistrate or a Judicial Magis- trate of the first class" shall be substituted

1 of 1898. 2 of 1974.

5 In section 10 of the principal Act, for the words and figures "Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898", the words and figures "Code of Criminal

Amend- ment of section 10 Procedure, 1973" shall be substituted,

6 The enactments specified in the Schedule are hereby amended in

the manner mentioned therein.

Amend- ment of certain enact- ments.

THE SCHEDULE

[See section 6]

Amendments

Short title

Year

No.

(3)

(4)

( 2)

( i)

In section 60,—

The Indian Christian marriage

1872

15

Act, 187a.

(1) in clause (1), for the words ¹ 'eighteen years" and ' fifteen y*ars", the words "twenty-ono years and ' sixteen years" shall, respectively, be substituted,

(ii) for the proviso, the followin

proviso shall be substituted, namely :—

"Provided that no marriage shall be certified under this part when the woman intending to be married had not completed her eighteenth year, unless such consent as is mentioned in section 19 has been given to the intended marriage or unless it appear* that there is no person living authori- zed to give such c n sent "

The Hindu MartiagC Act 1955.

1955

In section 5, in clause (iii), for the word* ''eighteen year*", and"fifte n years"the words "twenty one yean" and''sixteen yearB" shall lespectively, be substituted.

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, was enacted with a view to prevent child marriages, namely, a marriage to which either of the con- tracting parties is under a bpecified age Originally, the age limit for a male was eighteen years and for a female fourteen years The age limit was subsequently raised in the case of females from fourteen to fifteen by the Amending Act 41 of 1949. Violation of the provisions of the Act is made punishable.

2. The question of increasing the minimum age of marriage for males and females has been considered in the present context when there is an urgent need to check the growth of population in the country Such in- crease of the minimum age of marriage will result in lowering the total fertility rate on account of letter span of married life. It will also result in more responsible parenthood and in better health ofi the mother and child. A Bill introduced for this purpose m the Lok Sabha on 25th August, 1976, lapsed with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha on 18th Janu- ary, 1977. The matter has been examined in all its aspects again.

3. The Bill seeks to amend the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, to increase the minimum age of marriage from fifteen to sixteen for females and from, eighteen to twenty-one for males and to make consequential amendments in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1935, and the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872, It is also being provided that offences under the Child Marriage Restraint Act may be investigated upon by a police officer under the Code of Criminal Procedure as if it were a cognizable offence The police officer shall, however, not have the power to arrest without a warrant or an order of a Magistrate

NEW DELHI;

SHANTI BHUSHAN.

The 6th December, 1977

AVTAR SINGH RIKHY,

Secretary.

PRINTED BY THE GENERAL MANAGER, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA PRESS, MINTO ROAD. NEW DELHI AND PUBLISHED BY T HF CONTROLLER OF PUBLICATIONS, DELHI, 1 9 77