Amrita Sinha, J. - (1.) The petitioners have filed the instant writ petition praying for setting aside the order dated 29th March, 2017 passed by the Tariff Authority of Major Ports (TAMP for short) whereby the schedule of rates (SoR for short) proposed by the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT for short) have been approved. The petitioners have also made a prayer for injunction restraining the respondents from giving any effect and/or further effect to the impugned SoR.
(2.) The petitioner no. 1 is a company within the meaning of the Companies Act. It is engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling of material handling and port handling equipments. The petitioner no. 2 is its Managing Director. The petitioner no. 1 is in possession of two separate plots of land of KoPT within the Kolkata Dock System in belts 1 and 2. The said plots of land were leased out by KoPT in favour of the petitioner no. 1 by two separate lease deeds. The petitioner no. 1 is in possession of the said plots for more than fifty/sixty years. A factory is in operation on the said plots directly employing approximately thousand persons and several daily wage earners. The lease deeds were executed last on 10th July, 2001 with effect from 1st. August 2000 and on 27th January, 2004 with effect from 1st. April 2000. Both the lease deeds were valid for a period of 15 years. The petitioners vide their letter dated 4th August, 2014 requested the KoPT for renewal of the lease as well as license in their favour.
(3.) To regulate the allotment of land the Ministry of Shipping issued guidelines from time to time as per the provisions contained in Section 34(1) of the Major Port Trust Act, 1963. The Policy Guidelines for land management by Major Ports 2014 is presently in operation. One of the objectives of the said Policy Guidelines is to ensure that optimum value is realised by licensing/leasing port land through a transparent tender-cumauction methodology.;