As part of a revamp of the marine engineering training process in India, in October 1991, the government of India appointed a Committee on Maritime Education and Training (COMET), under the chairmanship of Dr. Chandrika Prasad Srivastava, ex-Secretary General of International Maritime Organization, to study the status of all maritime training institutes in the country and present recommendations. Based on COMET's findings, the Merchant Marine Education and Research Trust (MMERT) was formed with the assistance of ship owners' associations, as a first step towards the formation of an Indian Maritime University, to supervise and control maritime education at Indian institutes. In 2001, MERI (Mumbai) launched a dual-degree course in Maritime Science, with admissions through IIT-JEE Extension List.