The Hindu Business Line : Revamp of eight port trust boards hits snag

THE Government is yet to fully reconstitute the board of trustees of eight major port trusts more than two months after the tenure of the earlier boards expired on March 31 this year.

Though the Election Commission had initially vetoed the reconstitution of the eight boards in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls, towards the end of April it had allowed the Shipping Ministry to undertake this task by appointing only the official trustees.

The nomination of trustees representing the politically sensitive category of `other interests' could be done only after a new Government assumed office.

Accordingly, the Ministry had notified the seven official trustees to represent the boards of Kandla, Chennai, Kochi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Paradip, Mormugao and Visakhapatnam port trusts hoping that this, along with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the respective port trusts, would make up the minimum one-third quorum required to hold a board meeting.

"The appointment of the remaining trustees including the `other interests' category is pending before the Shipping Minister for approval," said Port Trust officials.

Ministry officials, however, said that no board of trustees is prevented from holding a meeting due to lack of minimum quorum.

"It is not correct to say that the board of trustees cannot hold a meeting because the board has not been fully reconstituted. Whatever minimum quorum is required for holding a meeting can be made up of the seven official trustees plus the Chairman and Deputy Chairman. No decision can be pended on the grounds that the board has not been fully reconstituted."

However, port trust officials said that the appointment of the official trustees itself has created confusion among the port trusts, with the result that a board meeting could not be held in any of these port trusts so far.

Deviating from the earlier practice of nominating the official trustees by designation as well as place, the Ministry this time around has only nominated the official trustees by designation or department such as Customs Commissioner, Area Manager Railways, Indian Oil Corporation, etc., without mentioning the place.

"In the wake of the confusion, the port trusts have referred the issue to the Ministry for clarification on who should be considered for appointment from these departments and whether they should be posted at Kandla, Gandhidham or Mumbai," a Kandla port trust official told Business Line.

Significantly, the Shipping Minister, Mr T.R. Baalu, is understood to be having reservations on the guidelines framed by the Ministry in February this year when the NDA Government was in power for the appointment of trustees under the category of `other interests' for the 11 major port trusts in the country with a view to induct only qualified persons.

The guidelines had clipped the Minister's powers over the appointment of trustees belonging to the `other interests' category since it had clearly spelt out the eligibility criteria/qualification of persons to be appointed as trustees under this category to prevent chances of party workers being roped in as trustees by the political establishment, a practice followed by successive Transport/Shipping Ministers in the absence of a clear-cut definition in the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963 on such appointments.