Kerala HC modifies condition to let three MSC Elsa sailors leave India

Kochi, June 30 (IANS) The Kerala High Court on Tuesday cleared the way for three foreign crew members of the Liberian-flagged cargo vessel MSC Elsa 3 to return to their home countries by relaxing one of the conditions imposed earlier for their departure from India.

Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas permitted the three crew members to deposit Rs 1 lakh each in cash instead of furnishing bank guarantees of the same amount, after being informed that technical difficulties had prevented them from complying with the earlier condition.

The three are among seven foreign crew members who had approached the High Court seeking permission to leave India after remaining in the country for over a year following the sinking of the vessel off the Kerala coast in May last year.

When the matter came up for hearing, the counsel appearing for the petitioners submitted that the three crew members had been unable to return despite an earlier order permitting them to do so because they could not arrange the bank guarantees.

“They have not yet gone?” Justice Thomas orally remarked during the hearing before modifying the earlier order.

The court accepted the request, observing that the technical difficulty in furnishing the bank guarantees justified the modification.

It ordered that the three petitioners could deposit Rs 1 lakh each in lieu of bank guarantees, thereby enabling them to complete the remaining formalities for their departure.

The three crew members have not been named in the preliminary inquiry report prepared as part of the statutory investigation under the Merchant Shipping Act, nor are they accused in the criminal case registered by the Coastal Police Station, Fort Kochi, in connection with the sinking of the vessel.

Counsel for the petitioners also informed the Court that the statutory inquiry being conducted by the jurisdictional Magistrate under Section 360 of the Merchant Shipping Act is scheduled to be taken up on July 9.

In view of the ongoing proceedings, the High Court posted the writ petition for further consideration on July 14.

Earlier this month, the High Court had directed the remaining four crew members, who are facing criminal proceedings, to seek appropriate relief before the Magistrate’s court handling the case.

It had also declined, for the present, to permit two of them to leave the country, observing that their statements were required as part of the statutory investigation into the circumstances leading to the sinking of the MSC Elsa 3.

–IANS

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