Section 31 in The Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Pollution by Oil from Ships) Rules, 2010
31. Oil discharge monitoring and control system.
(1)Subject to the provisions of rule 3, oil tankers of one hundred and fifty gross tonnage and above shall be equipped with an oil discharge monitoring and control system of a design approved by the 'Central Government which shall be installed in accordance with the provisions of the Convention.(2)Any such system referred to in sub-rule (1) shall be fitted with a recording device to provide, unless otherwise required by the Convention, a continuous record of the discharge of oil in litres per nautical miles and the total quantity of oil' discharged or, in lieu of the-total quantity of oil discharged, the oil content and rate of discharge of the effluent and the record shall be identifiable as to the time and date and be kept for at least three years.(3)The system referred to in sub-rule (1) shall be brought into operation whenever there is a discharge of effluent into the sea and shall be such as to ensure that any discharge of oily mixture is, unless otherwise permitted by the Convention, automatically stopped when the instantaneous rate of discharge of oil exceeds thirty litres per nautical mile."(4)On any failure of the system, the discharge shall be stopped and the failure noted in the Oil Record Book or manually operated alternative system shall be provided and may be used in the event of such a failure, but the defective unit shall be made operable as soon as possible and if a tanker with a defective unit is within India or the territorial waters thereof, the Central Government may allow the tanker to undertake one ballast voyage before proceeding to a repair port.(5)Approved instruction manuals on the operation and maintenance of the various components comprising the oil discharge monitoring and control system shall be provided which shall contain information on manual as wen as automatic operation and shall be so drawn up "as to ensure that at" no time will oil be discharged except in compliance with the conditions specified in rule 34.
