Post Office Bill may hit cargo firms' party

The proposed Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill may spoil the party of India's Rs 3,000-crore express cargo industry.

The Bill, which is slated for consideration in Parliament early next year, has recommended the creation of a postal board to regulate functioning of express cargo companies, with penal provisions and price-fixing powers.

Sources said the Bill proposed to fix delivery charges of a courier company at a certain multiple of that for Indian Post, which might make the functioning of courier companies unviable.

In addition, a director of a courier company could be arrested for misconduct on part of his employee if the penal provisions envisaged in the proposed Bill were implemented. The director would also face financial penalty, they added.

The Bill, which was referred to a standing committee headed by Somnath Chatterjee, reserves the exclusive privilege of conveying letters with the government.

According to it, the government shall have the exclusive privilege of performing all incidental services of receiving, collecting, sending, dispatching and delivering of letters, barring some exceptions.

A delegation of Express Industry Council of India (EICI), the apex body of express companies with over 80 per cent representation of the market, recently met Union Minister of Information Technology & Communication Dayanidhi Maran to express their concern.

Leading express cargo companies such as Fedex, UPS, First Flight and Prakash Air Freight were part of the delegation.

EICI Chairman R K Saboo said Maran had assured the delegation that the government would look into the issues "sympathetically" and review the penalty provisions.

"We are also concerned about the definition of a letter. Electronic communication like fax and e-mail deserves a different treatment in the wake of monopoly provisions," he said.

Moreover, the government should appoint a neutral body as regulator in the line of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to ensure a level-playing field for courier companies, he said.

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SPOIL SPORT

The government is planning to consider the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill early next year, which will recommend compulsory registration of courier companies, creation of a postal board and reserving the exclusive privilege of conveying letters with Indian Post

India had introduced Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill, 2002, in the last Lok Sabha with the intent and purpose of amending the 104-year-old Indian Post Office Act, 1898. This Bill was lapsed due to its dissolution

Express cargo companies allege that this Bill not only failed to satisfy expectations over a progressive legislation in tune with the general trend in other sectors, but also incorporated measures to further strengthen governmental control over the sector dealing with written communication

The Department of Posts has been operating the written communication service in India as a monopoly for the last 150 years.