The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways on 7th June 2022, has published the Inland Vessels (Registration and other technical issues) Rules 2022 which shall be applicable to any inland mechanically propelled vessel, which is required to be registered under the Inland Vessels Act, 2021, shall not proceed on any voyage or be used for any service, unless it has a certificate of registration in force.
Every certificate of registration issued in respect of a mechanically propelled vessel under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, shall be valid and effective as a certificate of registration issued under the Act and the relevant provisions of the Act shall apply in relation to such vessel as they apply to an inland mechanically propelled vessel registered under these regulations and the Act.
The owner or master of an inland vessel wishing to have it registered at a place of registry in the State shall make an application for registration in Form No. 2 and submit the same to the concerned Registering Authority. If, in respect of any inland mechanically propelled vessel, the registering authority, after making such enquiry, is satisfied that the provisions of the Act or of any rules made thereunder have been complied with, shall grant to the applicant thereof a certificate of registration in Form No. 8 appended to these rules retaining the certificate of survey or provisional certificate of survey, builders certificate, instrument of sale by which the vessel was sold, and the declaration of ownership.
The certificate of registration may also be in electronic form. A provisional certificate of registration may be issued in Form No. 13. It shall be the duty of the owner or master of the inland vessel to produce certificate of registration or provisional certificate of registration as the case may be on demand by the authority engaged in the enforcement of Act and rules made thereunder.
Further, the registering authority may refuse to register any inland vessel, if she is found to be mechanically defective, or if the applicant fails to furnish satisfactory evidence in support of any of the statements made in the application for registration, provided that where the registering authority refuses to register any inland mechanically propelled vessel, it shall furnish to the applicant a statement in writing containing the reasons for such refusal.
When any registered inland vessel is declared missing, destroyed, lost, abandoned or has been rendered permanently unfit for service, the owner of the vessel shall report in writing the fact to the Registrar of Inland Vessels of the place where the vessel is registered within fifteen days of occurrence of such event.
