8Procedure in forfeiture of ships

(1) An application for the forfeiture of a ship under this Act may be made by, or under authority from, the ¹[Central Government] to any competent Court within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the ship is for the time being.

(2) On receipt of any such application, the Court shall cause notice thereof and of the date fixed for the hearing of the application to be served upon all persons appearing to it to have an interest in the ship, and may give such directions for the temporary disposal of the ship as it thinks fit.

(3) For the purpose of disposing of an application under this section, the Court shall have the same powers and follow, as nearly as may be, the same procedure as it respectively has and follows for the purpose of the trial of suits under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), and any order made by the Court under this section shall be deemed to be a decree, and the provisions of the said Code in regard to the execution of decrees shall, as far as they are applicable, apply accordingly.

(4) Where the Court is satisfied that the ship is liable to forfeiture under this Act, it shall pass an order forfeiting the ship to Government:

Provided that, where any person having an interest in the ship proves to the satisfaction of the Court that he has not abetted, or connived at, or by his negligence facilitated, in any way, a contravention of section 3 in respect of the ship, and such ship has not been built as a vessel of war, it may pass such other order as it thinks fit in respect of the ship or, if it be sold, of the sale proceeds thereof:

Provided further that in no case shall any ship which has been altered, armed or equipped as a vessel of war be released until it has been restored, to the satisfaction of the ¹[Central Government], to such condition as not to render it liable to forfeiture under this Act.

(5) The ¹[Central Government] or any person aggrieved by any order of a Court, other than a High Court, under this section may, within three months of the date of such order, appeal to the High Court.