277. Cost of return journey of pilgrims on ships other than those for which return ticket is available.- (1) The master, owner or agent of every pilgrim ship shall make all arrangements for ensuring the return of all pilgrims in possession of a return ticket issued in India who are carried to the Hedjaz by such ship, within a period of ninety days after the Haj day in a year: Provided that, for the purpose of computing the said period of ninety days, no period shall be taken into account during which the ship is prevented from carrying pilgrims on the return passage by reason of the port of Jeddah having been declared by proper authority to be infected or by reason of war, disturbance or any other cause not arising from any act or default of the master, owner or agent. (2) Where any such pilgrim who has notified to be prescribed authority in the prescribed manner his desire to embark for the return voyage is, owing to his inability to obtain accommodation within the period of ninety days aforesaid in a ship for which the return ticket is available, detained at Jeddah beyond the said period, the master, owner or agent of the ship in which such pilgrim was carried to the Hedjaz shall pay to the Central Government in respect of such pilgrim such sum not exceeding double the sum received by the master, owner or agent in respect of the return ticket as the Central Government claims as the cost of repatriating the pilgrim, together with a sum of rupees five for each day after the expiry of the period aforesaid during which the pilgrim has been detained at Jeddah. (3) A certificate of such detention purporting to be made and signed by the Indian consular officer at Jeddah shall be received in evidence in any court in India without proof of the signature or of the official character of the person who has signed the same. | 
