``The post of shipping master is very important as it looks after the welfare of all the seamen in the state,'' said Sanjeev Chimbulkar, former General Secretary of the party, who wrote to the EC about the violation.

The present Shipping Master ME Hussain was transferred by an order dated July 13 and signed by Joy Valentine, Deputy Director General of Shipping. In his letter, Chimbulkar requested that an enquiry be instituted into the violation and the transfer be kept in abeyance till the elections were over.

However, Director General Shipping BK Saha told Express Newsline that there were no political motives behind the transfer. ``It was purely an administrative decision taken at my level,'' he said.

Hussain had been deputed as shipping master earlier this year as thesituation then warranted it but now the officer, who held the rank of Assistant Director General, was needed at the head office to where he had been transferred back, Saha said. His office had not received any communication from the Election Commission of India. ``We'll react to it as it comes,'' he said.

According to sources, the shipping master is the most important posting after the Director General of Shipping (DGS) and alongwith the DGS comes directly under the Ministry of Surface Transport (MoST). Held by a Class I officer, the shipping master issues the vital seamen's passports called Continuos Discharge Certificates (CDCs).

The post shot into notoreity earlier this year when the previous Shipping Master Laxmi Narain was transferred after his house was raided by the CBI and an investigation

``Moreover, the shipping master signs an indenture or agreement for all Indian cadets who are going to sea and seamen cannot go on board an Indian vessel without an Indian CDC,'' a shipping source said. Theshipping master's office is presently headless with an official from the DG's office is officiating.