In symbolic victory for the whistleblowers against the multi-crore port scam in cargo handling at Haldia and Kolkata ports, the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ruled in favour of tendering out of the cargo handling operations. The court rejected the petition of the cargo operators who had for the past several decades established a monopoly in these ports in connivance with officials of the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) depriving the Shipping Ministry of revenue worth hundreds of crores.
The Division Bench of Justices Jayanta Kumar Biswas and SR Ishan Chandra Das ruled that the “KoPT Board shall be free to put the services in question out to tender in execution of its decision dated December 13, 2012 to proceed with the already initiated tender process making necessary amendments to the terms and conditions and taking other steps including extension of time; or to initiate fresh tender process,” adding “the person authorised by it or chosen through the tender process will be free to undertake and perform the services in question.”
The Pioneer had earlier reported how some cargo-handling agents have been sidestepping the provisions of the MPT Act to perform handling operations for a meagre licence fee of Rs5,000 per annum while realising hundreds of crores from the exporters and importers every year depriving the Government of its share of revenue. The cargo operators had been working for the past several decades allegedly with the active connivance of some Board officials and their counterparts who held office in Delhi during the earlier Government.
Nudged into action by the Shipping Ministry, the Board had recently issued an order to tender out cargo handling operations in line with the December 2012 order.
The KoPT issued a tender notice dated July 21, 2014 putting the shore handling services for dry bulk cargo handling at its Haldia Dock Complex out to tender.
The tender notice mentioned that KoPT would grant the successful bidder Handling Agency licence for undertaking and performing the services charging their principals within the specified ceiling rates and paying the KoPT the quoted royalty. This led the vested interests to move the court.
However, invoking the MPT Act, the court ruled that there was "apparently no dispute that the services put out to tender fall within the meaning of Section 42(1)(b) and that the KoPT Board or any person authorised by the Board, under Section 42(3), is bound to perform the services in accordance with the scale of rates framed by the authority under Section 48; for the services put out to tender are apparently covered by Section 48(1)(e)."
Section 42(3) empowers the KoPT Board to authorise any person to perform the services. This leads to a prima facie conclusion that the KoPT Board is empowered to levy royalty from the person authorised to perform the services.
Meanwhile the functionaries of the Haldia Dock Officers' Forum hailed the order saying this would go a long way in bringing transparency and earning revenue to the Government.