The Hindu Business Line : Election Commission vetoes revamp of port trust boards

THE Election Commission has vetoed a Shipping Ministry plan to reconstitute the Board of Trustees of eight major port trusts citing the model code of conduct.

Without losing heart, the Ministry has again approached Nirvachan Sadan, the head quarters of the Election Commission, making out a strong case for the re-constitution of the Board of Trustees of the eight major port trusts.

As per the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963, the Government will have to re-constitute the Board of Trustees of all the 12 major port trusts every two years.

Accordingly, the Board of Trustees of Kandla, Chennai, Kochi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Paradip, Mormugao and Visakhapatnam port trusts are due for re-constitution on April 1 this year for a two-year term, till March 31, 2006. The current tenure of the eight major port trusts expires on March 31.

The Board of Trustees of Jawaharlal Nehru, Tuticorin, New Mangalore and Haldia Dock were re-constituted on April 1, 2003 for a two-year term till March 31, 2005.

"As per the Act, the re-constituted Board of Trustees will have to be in place by April 1 this year. Otherwise, the Board of Trustees cannot function", says a senior Ministry official. "This will put the eight major port trusts in a spot over transacting business which requires approval of the respective Board of Trustees", he added.

The MPT Act does not contain any provisions to say that the existing board can function even after March 31, till such time that the re-constituted board is put in place. The Ministry has stressed this point while seeking the Commission's nod again to re-constitute the eight major port trust boards.

"The re-constitution of the board of trustees of major port trusts is a routine affair which takes place once in every two years. This time, it so happens that the exercise comes when the general elections have been announced. And, as a measure of abundant caution, the Ministry had asked for the Commission's views in this regard ", the official noted.

While striking down the Ministry's plan to revamp the board of eight major port trusts, the Commission appears to be bothered by the possibility of the Government inducting party workers as trustees in the category of "other interests", as had been happening in the past.

From this angle, the Commission doubts the Ministry's urgency in re-constituting the boards on or before April 1 when the poll campaign is in full swing as there have been instances in the past of the Ministry revamping the boards as late as in May and June when the term of the earlier board had expired on March 31.

"So what is the great urgency this time. The Ministry can wait till a new Government is formed by June before revamping the boards", a Commission official said.

Significantly, the Ministry had issued an order on February 19 listing the eligibility criteria/qualification for the appointment of persons as trustees under the "other interests" category to prevent the chances of party workers being roped in as trustees.

"These are sensitive political matters which don't go by logic. Still, somebody can rake up the issue", the official said adding that the Ministry had approached the Commission again for permission to re-constitute the boards.