Temporary fitness certificate illegal

The temporary fitness certificate that the Department of Shipping issued for Pinak-6 during the Eid rush was unlawful, said officials of the department and the Marine Court.     

Pinak-6 got three temporary fitness certificates since its fitness document had expired in April.

Eight days after the disaster, the Department of Shipping following the shipping minister's instructions yesterday dissolved its four-member committee formed to probe the launch capsize that killed over 100 people.

The officials, whom the committee had found responsible for the deaths, had lobbied for the dismantling of the committee with a powerful quarter backing them, according to official sources in the department.

The committee had nearly wrapped up its investigation and it only had two days to go before it was to submit its findings, the sources said.

The overcrowded Pinak-6 capsized in the choppy waters of the Padma on August 4. The sunken vessel remained untraced and its salvage operation has been called off. 

“The 45-day temporary fitness certificate [token] issued the last time for Pinak-6 was absolutely illegal,” said a high official of the country's lone Marine Court, requesting anonymity.

“The fitness certificate given in token form more than once was illegal and we will bring the surveyor concerned to book,” a member of the enquiry committee had said before the committee got dissolved.

According to Inland Shipping Ordinance, validity of a temporary fitness token shall not exceed 45 days during which the original fitness certificate must be renewed, said Jahangir Hossain, a lawyer at the Marine Court.  

The Marine Court has served show-cause notices on all four vessel surveyors of the shipping department for issuing unlawful “temporary fitness” certificates and “temporary registration” to many questionable vessels, he said.   

According to the department officials, fitness permit for Pinak-6 expired on April 30. It issued a 45-day fitness token on May 1, implying the original certificate would be renewed within that period.

But the department then gave a second temporary fitness token for period between June 14 and July 15.

Shipping department surveyor Mirza Saifur Rahman issued another temporary fitness token on July 23, claiming he had physically surveyed the vessel at Mawa on July 18.

Department of Shipping Chief Inspector Shafiqur Rahman said upon physical survey of a vessel, the surveyor has to submit a declaration to the department for fitness renewal as per rules.    

“But we have not received any survey declaration for Pinak-6 since its fitness expired,” he said.

Mirza Saifur said he did not submit the declaration even though he had surveyed the vessel because “it had some faults” and that he was busy due to the Eid rush.

About issuing the temporary certificate again and again to Pinak-6 without submitting the survey declaration, he said, “I did it as per the law.”   

The Department of Shipping has also issued “temporary registration” and fitness certificates for seven years to a large vessel, Kalam Khan, plying on Dhaka-Barisal route despite its fourth (top) deck having a faulty design.   

Chief Inspector Shafiqur said a month ago he had sued the vessel's construction supervisors, owner, builder and the dockyard owner for deviating from the design. 

As to why he had spared the surveyor, Mirza Saifur, Shafiqur said, “I cannot sue an official of my own department.”  

Saifur, however, said his predecessor had issued the registration and that he could not say why it got fitness certificate without looking at the file.

Chief Engineer AKM Fakhrul Islam of the department said they had issued “temporary registration” to Kalam Khan for seven years as a “customary practice” though there was no legal provision.

Director General Commodore M Zakiur Rahman Bhuiyan of the Department of Shipping said his department had dissolved its committee to avoid “overlapping” of investigation, as the shipping ministry had a seven-member committee to probe the incident.

"The shipping minister's instruction was to dissolve the committee, as having two committees would create problems," he said, adding that it would be difficult to deal with varied findings of two committees while filing a case with the Marine Court.

It was also aimed at avoiding any possible favouritism, as the department officials, in some way or the other, were involved in the vessel's registration, survey and inspection, he said.

According to the Inland Shipping Ordinance, he continued, there should be one committee to probe a river accident and that they had given priority to the committee of the ministry.

When asked if the committee was dissolved to protect those responsible for the tragedy, the DG said, "It is not correct."

As to why they took eight days to dissolve an “unnecessary” committee, he said they had to look into its legal implications.

Regarding why they had formed it in the first place, he said it was the norm that they form a probe committee immediately after an accident.

The seven-member committee of the ministry includes two department of shipping representatives, he added.

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, who lost three nieces in the accident, said, "We dissolved one committee to make the probe transparent."

Rejecting the allegation of trying to protect those responsible, the minister said the Department of Shipping probe body might not always be fair since they were involved in regulating vessels.