Opinion piece authored by Vidhi Tiwari and Suman Setty
We have seen that the there are many legislations in India which deal with Maritime law or Admiralty law. Their efficiency is the question which needs to be answered. After analyzing the major acts dealing with maritime law, we realize that there have been attempts to enrol Indian trading into maritime law but somewhere it is lacking.
Two primary reasons authors propose in this context. First, most of these acts have been adapted from foreign states and it is not a hidden fact that Indian trade practices are not entirely similar to that of England. And even if we consider few similarities from the past, given gap of almost 70 years since we parted our ways with English, there might not e too many common practices now.
Second reason is lack of timely amendments and proper implementation. India is considered to be one of the countries which makes the term living law sensible. We keep on making amendments in the law to make it up to date. Maritime law for many reasons has been comparatively ignored by the lawmakers and hence most of the laws are out-dated and are not equipped to deal with modern complications.
There is need of a unification of maritime law regime too. But for now it can only be said a distant dream which needs consideration but is being ignored. All we can hope is that soon due attention will be given to this issue and accordingly we will have a system to chalk our way out of the seas safely.