Dept of Posts seeks sole rights to light mail

The Department of Posts on Thursday proposed that the century-old Indian Postal Act 1898 be amended to enable letters weighing up to 300 g to be the "absolute and exclusive" privilege of India Post.

On expected lines, the draft amendment of the Bill also recommends a series of measures to enable the postal space emulate the telecom sector.

These include subjecting large private courier companies to the Universal Service Obligation (USO) levy, establishing an independent Mail Development and Regulatory Authority to monitor the sector and setting up of a Mail Disputes Settlement Tribunal for adjudication of disputes.

The Bill also proposes a one-time registration fee of Rs 10 lakh for courier companies, which have both domestic and international operations, and Rs 25,000 for those which offer only domestic services, with an annual renewal fee of Rs 500,000 and Rs 10,000, respectively.

Also, only big courier companies having an annual turnover of Rs 25,00,000 or more will be charged 10 per cent of their annual revenue towards the USO fund. Industry associations and private players have opposed these changes and said that it would sound the death knell to the Rs 3,500 crore courier industry, especially the smaller players.

"This will also wipe out a vibrant segment of our service sector economy and with it over a million jobs," Pradeep S Mehta, secretary general, Consumer Unity and Trust Society said.

Under existing laws, all letters irrespective of weight limits are the exclusive privilege of IndiaPost. The DoP has now defined the expression "letter" and said that this would include any communication produced by written, mechanical, electronic and other means (letter-card, post-card and all envelopes), documents and return answers. However, newspapers and parcels have been exempted.

The Bill also states that a regulator was essential as this would for the first time provide a mechanism for customers to lodge grievances. The regulator will also fix quality, service and delivery parameters and carry out performance evaluation measures.

The DoP has also pointed out that the absence of a regulator has resulted in the courier industry not having a wage structure and labour laws.

"The proposed amendment to Postal Act to create a monopoly for the Post Department to handle all mails below 300 grams is a retrograde step. If this is enacted it would imply that consumers are denied a choice," Mehta added.