NEW DELHI: The shipping ministry wants to invoke a rarely-used constitutional provision, allowing it to seek exemptions from various laws to get port projects , caught in complicated processes, off the ground.

The ministry has referred the provision under Article 364 of the Constitution to the law ministry, seeking its clarification of how the government can issue a notification, which will help the projects stay out of the ambit of “any law”, sources told TOI.

Article 364 of the Constitution empowers the President issue a public notice specifying, “Any law made by Parliament or by the state legislature of a state shall not apply to any major port or aerodrome or shall apply thereto subject to such exceptions or modifications as may be specified in the notification.”

During a meeting with minister of state for law P P Chaudhury on Thursday, shipping and transport minister Nitin Gadkari pointed out that several port projects were caught in red tape, especially those related to the environment ministry. There are 12 major ports across the country, which are under the shipping ministry with around 10 projects involving investment of Rs 10,000 crore are caught in red tape.

Officials said the notification under this constitutional provision could alter the manner in which major ports expand and do business. “The government can look into which law can apply and which won’t and that too up to what extent for port projects. That will bring huge relief to the port sector. In most of the cases proposals are caught in files and departments take long time to approve or reject them citing different legal provision, which government those particular ministries,” said an official, who did not wish to be named.

The constitutional provision, which can speed up clearances for port projects, was brought to the notice of Gadkari recently. He had asked his ministry officials to study the provisions under the article and prepare a strong case, which it could take up with the law ministry.

