1. Short title, commencement and application.—(1) This Act may be called the Major Port Trusts
Act, 1963.
(2) It shall come into force on such date1
as the Central Government may, by notification in the
Official Gazette, appoint.
(3) It applies in the first instance to the major ports of Cochin, Kandla and Vishakhapatnam, and the
Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, apply2
the provisions of this Act to such
other major port 3
*** and with effect from such date, as may be specified in the notification.
2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
(a) “appointed day”, in relation to a port, means the date on which this Act is made applicable to
that port;
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[(aa) “Authority” means the Tariff Authority for Major Ports constituted sub-section 47A;]
(b) “Board”, in relation to a port, means the Board of Trustees constituted under this Act for that
port;
(c) “Chairman” means the Chairman of a Board and includes the person appointed to act in his
place under section 14;
(d) “Collector of Customs” has the same meaning as in the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962);
(e) “Deputy Chairman” means 5
[the Deputy Chairman, or, as the case may be, a Deputy
Chairman of a Board] and includes the person appointed to act in his place under section 14;
(f) “dock” includes all basins, locks, cuts, entrances, graving docks, graving blocks, inclined
planes, slipways, gridirons, moorings, transit-sheds, warehouses, tramways, railways and other works
and things appertaining to any dock, and also the portion of the sea enclosed or protected by the arms
or groynes of a harbour;
(g) “foreshore”, in relation to a port, means the area between the high-water mark and the
low-water mark relating to that port;
(h) “goods” includes livestock and every kind of movable property;
1. 29th February, 1964, vide notification No. G.S.R. 296, dated 28th February, 1964, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II,
sec. 3(i).
2. Applied to—
Major Port of Mormugao (w.e.f. 1-7-1964) by notification No. G.S.R. 922, dated 22-6-1964, Gazette of India, Part II,
sec. 3(i).
Major Port of Paradip (w.e.f. 1-11-1967) by notification No. G.S.R. 1516, dated 27-9-1967, Gazette of India, Part II, sec. 3(i).
3. The brackets and words “(not being the Major Port of Bombay, Calcutta or Madras)” omitted by Act 29 of 1974, s. 2
(w.e.f. 1-2-1975).
4. Ins. by Act 15 of 1997, s. 10 (w.e.f. 9-1-1997).
5. Subs. by Act 17 of 1982, s. 2, for “the Deputy Chairman of a Board” (w.e.f. 31-5-1982).
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(i) “high-water mark”, in relation to a port, means a line drawn through the highest points reached
by ordinary spring-tides at any season of the year at the port;
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[(ia) “immovable property” includes wharfage-rights and all other rights exercisable on, over, or
in respect of, any land, wharf, dock or pier;]
(j) “Indian Ports Act” means the Indian Ports Act, 1908 (15 of 1908);
(k) “land” includes the bed of the sea or river below high-water mark, and also things attached to
the earth or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth;
(l) “low-water mark”, in relation to a port, means a line drawn through the lowest points reached
by ordinary spring-tides at any season of the year at that port;
(m) “major port” has the same meaning as in the Indian Ports Act;
(n) “master”, in relation to any vessel or any aircraft making use of any port, means any person
having for the time being the charge or control of such vessel or such aircraft, as the case may be,
except a pilot, harbour master, assistant harbour master, dock master or berthing master of the port;
(o) “owner”,
(i) in relation to goods, includes any consignor, consignee, shipper or agent for the sale,
custody, loading or unloading of such goods; and
(ii) in relation to any vessel or any aircraft making use of any port, includes any part-owner,
charterer, consignee, or mortgagee in possession thereof;
(p) “pier” includes any stage, stairs, landing place, hard, jetty, floating barge 2
[, transhipper] or
pontoon, and any bridges or other works connected therewith.
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[Explanation.—For the purposes of this clause, “transhipper” means a floating craft or vessel,
whether dumb or self-propelled, on which gears are provided for discharging cargo from a barge or
wharf and loading it into a ship;]
(q) “port” means any major port to which this Act applies within such limits as may, from time to
time, be defined by the Central Government for the purposes of this Act by notification in the Official
Gazette, and, until a notification is so issued, within such limits as may have been defined by the
Central Government under the provisions of the Indian Ports Act;
(r) “port approaches”, in relation to a port, means those parts of the navigable rivers and channels
leading to the port, in which the Indian Ports Act is in force;
(s) “Port Trust security” means debentures, bonds or stock certificates issued by a Board in
respect of any loan contracted by it under the provisions of this Act or issued by any other authority
for the payment of which the Board is liable under this Act;
(t) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules or regulations made under this Act;
(u) “public securities” means—
(i) promissory notes, debentures, stock or other securities of the Central Government or of
any State Government:
Provided that securities, both the principal whereof and the interest whereon have been fully
and unconditionally guaranteed by any such Government, shall be deemed, for the purposes of
this clause, to be securities of such Government;
(ii) debentures or other securities for money issued by or on behalf of any municipal body,
Improvement Trust or Port Trust under the authority of any law for the time being in force in
India (including the Port Trust securities);
1. Ins. by Act 29 of 1974, s. 3 (w.e.f. 1-2-1975).
2. Ins. by Act 17 of 1982, s. 2 (w.e.f. 31-5-1982).
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(v) “rate” includes any toll, due, rent, rate, fee, or charge leviable under this Act;
(w) “regulations” means regulations made under this Act;
(x) “rules” means rules made by the Central Government under this Act;
(y) “Trustee”, in relation to a port, means a member of the Board constituted for the port;
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[(z) “vessel” includes anything made for the conveyance, mainly by water, of human beings or of
goods and a caisson;]
(za) “wharf” includes any wall or stage and any part of the land or foreshore that may be used for
loading or unloading goods, or for the embarkation or disembarkation of passengers and any wall
enclosing or adjoining the same.