The Major Port Authorities Act, 2021

• The Major Port Authorities Act, 2021, provides for the regulation, operation, and planning of Major Ports in India, vesting their administration, control, and management in the Boards of Major Port Authorities.
• The Act applies to the Major Ports of Chennai, Cochin, Deendayal (Kandla), Jawaharlal Nehru (Nhava Sheva), Kolkata, Mormugao, Mumbai, New Mangalore, Paradip, V.O. Chidambaranar (Tuticorin), and Visakhapatnam.

Key Definitions

• Adjudicatory Board: A board constituted by the Central Government under section 54(1).
• Board: The Board of Major Port Authority constituted for each Major Port under section 3(1).
• Capital Reserves: The total reserves excluding those in section 43(1) plus the value of the Board's current assets in the preceding financial year.
• Chairperson: The Chairperson of the Board appointed under section 4(1).
• Deputy Chairperson: The Deputy Chairperson also appointed under section 4(1).
• Dock: Includes basins, locks, entrances, graving docks, moorings, sheds, warehouses, and related infrastructure.
• Foreshore: The area between the high-water mark and the low-water mark of a Major Port.
• Goods: Includes livestock and all kinds of movable property.
• Grave Emergency: A condition determined by the Central Government where the Board cannot appropriately discharge its duties, including sedition, non-performance, and financial misappropriation.
• High-Water Mark: The line drawn through the highest points reached by ordinary spring-tides at any season.
• Immovable Property: Includes wharfage-rights and other rights over land, wharf, dock, or pier.
• Independent Member: A member of the Board appointed under section 4(2).
• Indian Ports Act: Refers to the Indian Ports Act, 1908.
• Land: Includes the bed of the sea or river below the high-water mark and anything attached to the earth.
• Low-Water Mark: The line drawn through the lowest points reached by ordinary spring-tides at any season.
• Major Port/Authority: The Major Port as defined in clause (8) of section 3 of the Indian Ports Act.
• Major Port Approaches: Navigable rivers and channels leading to the Major Port where the Indian Ports Act is in force.
• Master: The person in charge of a vessel or aircraft using a Major Port, excluding pilots, harbour masters, and dock masters.
• Member: A member of the Board appointed under sections 4(2) and 4(3).
• Notification: Publication in the Official Gazette.
• Presiding Officer: The Presiding Officer of the Adjudicatory Board appointed under section 55.
• Owner: Includes consignors, consignees, shippers, or agents for goods; part-owners, charterers, or mortgagees in possession of vessels or aircraft.
• Pier: Includes stages, stairs, landing places, jetties, floating barges, and connected works.
• Port Assets: Assets within port limits, including land, movable or immovable property, owned by or vested with the Board.
• Port Limits: Includes piers, jetties, wharves, docks, and other works for traffic convenience, safety, or governance, within or without the high-water mark.
• Port Related Use: Use directly or indirectly related to port operations and activities.
• Port Securities: Debentures, bonds, or stock certificates issued by the Board.
• Prescribed: Prescribed by rules made under this Act.
• Public Private Partnership Project: Projects under a concession contract entered into by the Board under section 24(1).
• Rate: Includes any toll, due, rent, fee, or charge leviable under this Act.
• Regulations: Regulations made by the Board under this Act.
• Vessel: Anything made for the conveyance, by water, of human beings or of goods.
• Wharf: Any wall or stage and adjacent land used for loading, unloading, embarkation, or disembarkation.

Major Port Authority Board Constitution

• The Central Government must constitute a Board of Major Port Authority for each Major Port within ninety days of the Act's commencement.
• The Board will consist of a Chairperson, a Deputy Chairperson, and members from the State Government, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Defence, Customs, one Central Government-nominated Director, and two members representing the interests of the employees of the Major Port Authority.
• Each Board is a permanent body with perpetual succession, a common seal, and the power to acquire, hold, and dispose of property, and to sue or be sued.

Qualifications and Appointments

• The Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson are appointed by the Central Government based on a Selection Committee's recommendations.
• Members from the State Government, Railways, Defence, and Customs, and the Independent Members are to be appointed by the Central Government, possessing prescribed qualifications and experiences.
• Employee representatives are appointed by the Central Government from serving employees, after consulting trade unions.
• Nominees must declare they are not disqualified or have conflicts of interest within thirty days of their appointment.

Disqualifications and Terms of Office

• A person is disqualified from being a Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, or Member if they have been adjudged insolvent, are physically or mentally incapable, have been convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude, hold an office of profit, or have been disqualified by a court or tribunal.
• The Central Government can remove a Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, or Member for misbehaviour, incapacity, or contravention of section 7, after an inquiry.
• The Central Government may suspend a Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, or Member during an inquiry.
• The term of office for the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson is up to five years or until superannuation, whichever is earlier.
• Independent Members hold office for a term of three years, up to the age of seventy, and are eligible for reappointment, but cannot serve more than two terms.

Board Operations and Financial Aspects

• The Chairperson, or Deputy Chairperson in their absence, has general superintendence over the Major Port Authority.
• The Board meets at specified places and times, following prescribed rules for transacting business, including quorum requirements.
• The Board can constitute committees for delegated functions.
• The Board delegates its powers and duties to the Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, or other officers.
• The Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson or Members, upon ceasing to hold office, cannot then accept employment in any organization relating to a Major Port for one year
• The Board must prepare and submit a list of employees to the Central Government every five years.

Assets, Property and Contracts

• The Board of each Major Port is entitled to use its property, assets, and funds as it deems fit for the benefit of that Major Port.
• Port assets are to be used and developed as per Board regulations, excluding municipal, local, or Government regulations.
• The Board can construct buildings for port development without State Government licenses, unless mandated by the Central Government.
• The Central/State Government may acquire immovable property for the Board under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

Rates and Powers

• The Board may frame scales of rates for services and access to port assets.
• It can order refunds of overcharges, recover short-levied charges, and frame different rates for different classes of goods and vessels.
• The Board has a lien on goods for unpaid rates and rent, with priority over other claims except for general average and ship owner's lien for freight.
• If masters or owners refuse to pay rates, the Board can distrain or arrest vessels.

Loans and Finances

• The Board can raise loans in any currency from scheduled banks or financial institutions, with restrictions on the amount without Central Government sanction.
• The Board can issue port securities and borrow money via temporary overdrafts.

Adjudicatory Board

• The Central Government constitutes an Adjudicatory Board to exercise jurisdiction and authority delegated to it, with effect dates via notification.
• The Adjudicatory Board is to consist of a Presiding Officer who is a retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India or a retired Chief Justice of a High Court, and two other members.

Penalties & Miscellaneous

• Contravening the Act or its rules results in a fine which may extend to one lakh rupees.
• Every person employed by the Board Authority under this Act, shall be deemed to be a public servant