States oppose central regulator for non-major ports

The Centre today formed a panel to allay fears of states that creation of a ports regulator will reduce their powers and erode profitability of those under the control of states.

The panel, headed by Rakesh Shrivastava, Joint Secretary, Shipping, is likely to submit its report next month after consultations with states and private ports.

State representatives in a meeting chaired by Shipping Secretary K Mohandas opposed creation of a regulator as proposed in the Indian Ports Bill and the Ports Regulatory Authority Bill. They expressed fear that the regulator will hijack the powers of states as regards to non-major ports.

"States today expressed apprehensions of losing some of the powers available to them...It has been clarified to them that the intention is to update the law in keeping the current national and economical requirements," Mohandas told PTI.

He said states feared the central law would override the powers of State Maritime Boards.  "A committee has been formed which will look into various aspects in consultations with states," he added.

Mohandas said both the laws, the Indian Ports Act 1908 and the Major Ports Trust Act 1963, needed to be replaced. The Centre tried to convince the states that "the new laws are introduced  to bring in systematic improvements in the whole process of ports development", he said.

The proposed Port Regulatory Authority under the Ports Regulatory Authority Bill will be vested with powers to fix tariffs at non-major ports, fix port limits, transfer employees, decide on land utilisation policies and monitor functioning of ports.

Besides, the regulator will be vested with powers to take action against operators in case of violation of norms.

The states are of the opinion that ports under their control should fix tariff as per the market requirement, in order to compete with major ones

The Centre fixes tariffs of major ports through the Tariff Authority on Major Ports, which has no jurisdiction over non-major ports which include private ports too.

India at present has 13 major ports - Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, Kolkata (with Haldia), Chennai, Cochin, Visakhapatanam, Paradip, New Mangalore, Marmagao, Ennore, Tuticorin, Kandla and Port Blair under the Centre's control-- and about 200 non-major ports under states.

 Minor ports are projected to overtake major ports and handle 1,280 million tonne (MT) of traffic by 2019-20 against 1,214 MT envisaged for major ports.

The Ministry, earlier, had sought suggestions from private port operators, developers and others on the proposed Bills.