{"id":51258,"date":"2025-08-13T20:39:39","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T15:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=51258"},"modified":"2025-08-14T19:10:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T13:40:04","slug":"lok-sabha-passes-indian-ports-bill-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/13-08-2025\/lok-sabha-passes-indian-ports-bill-2025","title":{"rendered":"LS Passed Indian Ports Bill, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Infrastructure<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Lok Sabha has passed the <strong>Indian Ports Bill, 2025. <\/strong>It seeks to repeal and replace the <strong>Indian Ports Act, 1908.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Features<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>State Maritime Boards:<\/strong> The Bill provides statutory recognition to all State Maritime Boards set up by coastal states.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>State Maritime Boards will be responsible for the administration and regulation of non-major ports within their respective states.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Maritime State Development Council:<\/strong> It provides statutory recognition to the Maritime State Development Council.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The council will be chaired by the Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It will issue guidelines in consultation with central and state governments and will also advise the central government on the formulation of a national perspective plan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC):<\/strong> The Bill requires state governments to constitute a DRC to adjudicate upon disputes between non-major ports, concessionaires, users, and service providers within the state.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Appeals against orders of the DRC will lie before the High Court.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Civil courts are barred from matters entrusted to the DRC.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tariffs:<\/strong> The tariff for a major port will be fixed by the: Board of Major Port Authority, or Board of Directors of a port registered as a company.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>For non-major ports, the State Maritime Board or a concessionaire authorised by it will fix the tariff.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Port officers:<\/strong> The Act designates the conservator, appointed by the state government, as the chief port officer.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Bill makes all other port officers (e.g., harbour master, health officer) subordinate to the conservator, who retains powers over vessel movements, obstruction removal, and fee recovery.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Safety and conservation:<\/strong> The Act penalises actions which endanger safety the Bill retains these provisions.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Bill mandates compliance with MARPOL (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships) and Ballast Water Management Convention.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It also adds new obligations with regard to prevention and containment of pollution, emergency preparedness, and disaster management.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Penalties:<\/strong> The offences under the Act are punishable with imprisonment, fine, or both, the Bill retains these offences.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It decriminalises certain offences and makes them punishable with a monetary penalty instead.&nbsp; It also introduces compounding for all first-time contraventions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"e6e2e2\" data-has-transparency=\"true\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"797\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/08\/LS-Passed-Indian-Ports-Bill-2025-1024x797.png\" alt=\"LS Passed Indian Ports Bill, 2025\" class=\"has-transparency wp-image-51292\" style=\"--dominant-color: #e6e2e2; width:506px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/08\/LS-Passed-Indian-Ports-Bill-2025-1024x797.png 1024w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/08\/LS-Passed-Indian-Ports-Bill-2025-300x233.png 300w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/08\/LS-Passed-Indian-Ports-Bill-2025-768x598.png 768w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/08\/LS-Passed-Indian-Ports-Bill-2025-1536x1196.png 1536w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/08\/LS-Passed-Indian-Ports-Bill-2025.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concerns<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Lack of Appeal mechanism:<\/strong> The Bill does not provide a mechanism for appeal against the<strong> levy of penalty by the conservator.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Penalty Against Supervising Authority: <\/strong>The Bill lets the conservator penalise the Port Authority or concessionaires for not publishing tariffs online.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Since the conservator works under the Port Authority, this may require penalising their own supervising body, raising concerns about the appropriateness of the arrangement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lack of Safeguards Against the Powers to Inspect: <\/strong>Port officers such as the conservator and the health officer are granted powers of entry and inspection.&nbsp; However, the Bill lacks safeguards against such powers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lack of clarity on \u2018mega ports\u2019: <\/strong>The Bill allows the central government to designate a port as a \u2018mega port\u2019, while retaining its major or non-major status. With no further provisions, the purpose of this additional classification remains unclear.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsonair.gov.in\/lok-sabha-passes-indian-ports-bill-2025-to-boost-coastal-development\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>AIR&nbsp;<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The Lok Sabha has passed the Indian Ports Bill, 2025. It seeks to repeal and replace the Indian Ports Act, 1908.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Concerns<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Lack of Appeal mechanism: The Bill does not provide a mechanism for appeal against the levy of penalty by the conservator.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Penalty Against Supervising Authority: The Bill lets the conservator penalise the Port Authority or concessionaires for not publishing tariffs online.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Since the conservator works under the Port Authority, this may require penalising their own supervising body, raising concerns about the appropriateness of the arrangement.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Lack of Safeguards Against the Powers to Inspect: Port officers such as the conservator and the health officer are granted powers of entry and inspection.\u00a0 However, the Bill lacks safeguards against such powers.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/13-08-2025\/lok-sabha-passes-indian-ports-bill-2025\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":51433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ls-passed-indian-ports-bill-2025-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51258"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51294,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51258\/revisions\/51294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}