Chapter I PRELIMINARY

1. (1) This Act may be called the Maharashtra Maritime Board Act, 1996.
2. (2) It extends to the whole of the State of Maharashtra.
3. (3) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 4th October 1996.
4. (4) It applies to all the minor ports in the State to which the Indian Ports Act, 1908, applies on the date of the commencement of this Act and the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, apply the provisions of this Act to any other minor port in the State to which the Indian Ports Act, 1908 is extended by the State Government under section 4 of that Act, and with effect from such date, as may be specified in the notification.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-

1. (a) "appointed day", in relation to any minor port, means the day on which this Act is made applicable to that port;
2. (b) "Board" means the Maharashtra Maritime Board constituted under section 3;
3. (c) "Board Security" means debentures, bonds or dock certificates issued by the Board in respect of any loan contracted by it under the provisions of this Act;
4. (d) "Chairman" means the Chairman of the Board appointed under section 3 and includes the person appointed under section 9 to act as the Chairman;
5. (e) "dock" includes all basins, locks, cuts, entrances, graving docks, graving blocks inclined planes, slipways, gridirons, moorings, transit sheds, warehouses, godowns, open plots 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 harbour;
6. (f) "foreshore", in relation to a port, means the area between the high water mark and the low water mark relating to that port;
7. (g) "goods" includes livestock and every kind of movable property;
8. (h) "Government" or "State Government" means the Government of Maharashtra;
   • (i) "high water mark", in relation to a port, means a line drawn through the highest point reached by ordinary spring tides during any season of the year at that port;
9. (j) "immovable property" includes wharfage-rights and all other rights exercisable on, over or in respect of any land, wharf, dock or pier;
10. (k) "Indian Ports Act" means the Indian Ports Act, 1908 (15 of 1908);
11. (l) "land" includes the bed of sea or river below high water mark and also things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth;
12. (m) "low water mark", in relation to a port, means a line drawn through the lowest point reached by ordinary spring tides at any season of the year at that port;
13. (n) "master", in relation to any vessel or craft making use of any minor port means any person having for the time being in charge or control of such vessel or craft, as the ease may be, except a pilot, harbour master, dock master, or berthing master of the port;
14. (o) "member" means a member of the Board or its Committee, as the case maybe;
15. (p) "minor port" means a port other than a major port declared as such by the Central Government under any law;
16. (q) "owner",-
    • (i) in relation to goods, means and 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 craft making use of any port, means and includes any port owner, charterer, consignee or mortgagee in possession thereof;
17. (r) "pier" includes any stage, stair, landing place, hard jetty, floating barg or pontoon and any bridges or other works connected therewith;
18. (s) "port" means any minor port to which this Act applies within such limits as may, from time to time, be defined by the State Government under the Indian Ports Act;
19. (t) "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;
20. (u) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules or regulations made under this Act;
    • (v) "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 and the interest whereof have been fully and unconditionally guaranteed by any such Government shall be deemed, for the purposes of this clause, to be the securities of that Government; and
    • (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 the State and includes the Board Securities;
21. (w) "rate" means and includes any toll, dues, rent, fee or charge leviable under this Act;
    • (x) "regulations" means regulations made under this Act;
22. (y) "rules" means rules made under this Act;
23. (z) "State" means the State of Maharashtra;
24. (za) "vessel” includes anything made for the conveyance, mainly by water, of human being or of goods;
25. (zb) "wharf" includes any wall or stage and any part of the land or foreshore that may be used for loading or unloading goods for the embarkation or disembarkation of passengers and any wall enclosing or adjoining the same.