The Union Ministry of Shipping has invited suggestions from all stakeholders on the draft Major Port Authorities Bill 2015 and the draft has been uploaded on the ministry website with a request to stakeholders to send in their views by the first week of December.
When the Bill becomes an Act, it will be applicable to the ports of Chennai, Cochin, Kandla, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Mangalore, Mormugao, Paradip, VO Chidambaranar, Vishakapatnam and Jawaharlal Nehru Port.
Though many of the provisions in the Major Port Trusts Act 1963 will remain intact, the core of the changes being mooted by the new legislation is the corporatisation of these ports’ operations.
Part III of draft, which deals with the management restructuring of port authority, is on “conversion of Port Authority from trust to company.”
The draft says: “the Port Authority of each Major Port operating as a trust may change its structure and become a company subject to prior approval of the Central government and passing of special resolution through its Board in that behalf”.
The draft goes on to say that the resolution to turn the trust into a company should be a special resolution.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for one of the five recognised federations of port and dock workers in the country said the proposal to corporatise ports would be opposed tooth and nail.
