Chapter IV CONTRAVENTIONS AND PENALTIES

1. (1) If the adjudicating officer, after following the procedure under section 13, is satisfied that any owner or Master, as the case may be, has used or caused or allowed to be used any fishing vessel in contravention of the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 6, he shall by an order––
   • (a) impose a penalty on such owner or Master, as the case may be, of not more than ten thousand rupees in case of a fishing vessel of less than twelve metres in length and seize the fishing vessel along with its catch, fishing gear, equipment, stores or cargo onboard for a period up to six months or till the time a valid licence is presented to the adjudicating officer, by the owner or Master, whichever is earlier;
   • (b) impose a penalty on such owner or Master, as the case may be, of not more than twenty-five thousand rupees in case of a fishing vessel of equal to or more than twelve metres in length and seize the fishing vessel along with its catch, fishing gear, equipment, stores or cargo onboard for a period of not more than six months or till the time a valid licence is presented to the adjudicating officer, by the owner or Master, whichever is earlier: Provided that upon presentation of a valid licence by the owner or Master of the fishing vessel before the expiry of six months, the adjudicating officer shall release the vessel, in such manner as may be prescribed: Provided further that upon the expiry of six months, if no valid licence has been presented before the adjudicating officer, the adjudicating officer shall declare that the seized fishing vessel as abandoned and upon such declaration, the fishing vessel shall vest with the Administration, free from all encumbrances and such fishing vessel may be disposed of by the Administration in such manner as may be prescribed.
2. (2) If the adjudicating officer, after following the procedure under section 13, is satisfied that any owner or Master, as the case may be, has used or caused or allowed to be used any fishing vessel in contravention of the provisions of this Regulation, other than sub-section (1) of section 6 or of any order, notification or rules issued or made thereunder or any of the conditions of the licence granted under section 6, he shall by an order––
   • (a) impose a penalty on such owner or Master, as the case may be, of not more than five thousand rupees in case of a fishing vessel of less than twelve metres in length and not more than ten thousand rupees for a fishing vessel equal to or more than twelve metres in length for the first contravention;
   • (b) impose a penalty on such owner or Master, as the case may be, of not more than ten thousand rupees in case of a fishing vessel of less than twelve metres in length and not more than twenty thousand rupees for a fishing vessel equal to or more than twelve metres in length for the second contravention;
   • (c) impose a penalty on such owner or Master, as the case may be, of not more than twenty thousand rupees in case of a fishing vessel of less than twelve metres in length and not more than forty thousand rupees for a fishing vessel equal to or more than twelve metres in length for a third contravention;
   • (d) suspend the licence of the fishing vessel for a period of one month and impose a penalty of not more than forty thousand rupees for a vessel of less than twelve metres in length and not more than eighty thousand rupees for a fishing vessel equal to or more than twelve metres in length for a fourth contravention; or
   • (e) cancel the licence of the fishing vessel and forfeit any security deposit made by the licence holder for any subsequent contravention: Provided that no licence shall be suspended or cancelled by the adjudicating officer without providing an opportunity of being heard to the licence holder.
3. (3) Without prejudice to any penalty that may be imposed under the preceding sub-sections, if the adjudicating officer, after following the procedure under section 13, has sufficient reason to believe that fishing gear seized under sub-section (3) of section 12 was used in contravention of any provisions of this Regulation, he shall direct the authorised officer to destroy such gear beyond use before two independent witnesses, by adopting such procedure as may be prescribed. Explanation.––For the purposes of this section, the expression “metres in length” means the overall length of the fishing vessel.

1. (1) The Administrator may, by notification, appoint an Appellate Authority for hearing the appeals against the orders of the adjudicating officer.
2. (2) The Appellate Authority referred to in sub-section (1) shall be any officer not below the rank of Director of the Administration.
3. (3) Any person aggrieved by an order of the adjudicating officer may, within a period of thirty days from the date on which the order is communicated to him, prefer an appeal to the Appellate Authority, having jurisdiction to hear such appeal: Provided that the Appellate Authority may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the said period of thirty days of communication of the order, but not after the expiry of sixty days from the date aforesaid, if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from preferring an appeal within such time.
4. (4) No appeal under this section shall be entertained by the Appellate Authority unless the appellant has, at the time of preferring the appeal, deposited a sum equal to fifty per cent. of the amount of penalty imposed, if any, under the order in respect of which an appeal has been filed: Provided that on an application made by the appellant in this behalf, the Appellate Authority may, if it is of the opinion that the deposit to be made under this sub-section shall cause undue hardship to the appellant, by order in writing, dispense with such deposit either in part or full, subject to such conditions as it may deem fit.
5. (5) On receipt of an appeal under sub-section (3), the Appellate Authority may, after making such inquiry as it deems fit and after giving the parties concerned an opportunity of being heard, confirm, modify or set aside the order in respect of which an appeal has been preferred and the decision of the Appellate Authority shall be final and binding on the parties.
6. (6) If the sum deposited by way of penalty under sub-section (4) exceeds the penalty directed to be paid by the Appellate Authority, the excess amount, or if the Appellate Authority sets aside the order imposing penalty, the whole of the sum deposited by way of penalty, shall be refunded to the appellant.

The Appellate Authority may call for and examine the records of any order passed by an adjudicating officer and against which no appeal has been preferred under section 16, for the purpose of satisfying itself as to the legality or propriety of such order or as to the adherence to the procedure and pass such order with respect thereto as it may deem fit:

Powers of adjudicating officer and Appellate Authority The adjudicating officer and the Appellate Authority shall, while holding an inquiry, have all the powers of a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 for the purposes of––

1. (a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of witnesses;
2. (b) requiring the discovery, inspection and production of documents;
3. (c) requisitioning any public record or copy thereof from any court or office;
4. (d) receiving evidence on affidavits; and
5. (e) issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents.

1. (1) Where a contravention of any of the provisions of this Regulation or of any order, notification or rules issued or made thereunder or any of the conditions of the licence granted under this Regulation has been committed, by a company, every person who, at the time the contravention 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 contravention and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly: Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment provided in this Regulation, if he proves that the contravention was committed without his knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such contravention.
2. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where any such contravention under this Regulation has been committed with the consent or connivance of or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall be deemed to be guilty of that contravention and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. Explanation.––For the purposes of this section, the expressions––
   • (a) “company” means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and
   • (b) “director”, in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.