PORT OF COLOMBO (ADMINISTRATION)

(1) There shall be a Port Commissioner and such other officers as may be necessary for the purpose of carrying out or giving effect to the provisions of this Act.

(2) Every such officer shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of the Penal Code.

(3) It shall be lawful for the Port Commissioner to assign to any such officer the functions or duties to be carried out by him ; and every officer carrying out any function or duty under this Act shall be deemed, until the contrary is proved, to be the proper officer for the performance of that function or duty.

(4) In the exercise, performance or discharge of the powers, duties or functions conferred, imposed or assigned by or under this Act, the Port Commissioner shall be subject to the general direction and control of the Minister.

(1) There shall be an advisory board, to be known as “the Colombo Port Commission”, consisting of-

(2) Every member of the Colombo Port Commission appointed under subsection (1) (c) shall, unless he earlier vacates office by resignation or revocation of appointment, hold office for a period of one year commencing on the date of his appointment. Any member vacating his office by effluxion of time shall be eligible for reappointment.

(3) There shall be a secretary to the Colombo Port Commission.

(4) The secretary shall summon a meeting of the Colombo Port Commission at least once in every quarter by notice addressed to every member of the Commission.

(5) In addition to the meetings required to be summoned under subsection (4), the secretary shall summon a meeting of the Colombo Port Commission-

(6) It shall be the duty of the Colombo Port Commission to advise the Port Commissioner in regard to all matters affecting the proper administration and efficient operation of the port; but neither the commission, nor any member thereof as such, shall have or exercise any administrative or executive power or function.

(7) The Colombo Port Commission may regulate the procedure to be followed at meetings of the commission.

(a) providing for the registration of workers who are or are to be permanently employed by persons requiring labour for work in the port, and specifying the circumstances in which and the conditions subject to which any worker shall be deemed for such purposes to be permanently employed ;

(b) specifying the maximum number of workers to be included in the labour reserve or prescribing the manner in which such maximum number is to be determined from time to time ;

(c) providing for the issue to workers registered as permanently employed by employers of labour in the port, or as being included in the labour reserve, of cards or certificates of identity bearing inter alia photographs and thumb impressions of the holders ;

(d) providing for the issue of meals and the maintenance of canteens and other amenities for such workers ;

(e) generally for the proper management and administration of the labour reserve and of the fund to be maintained for the purposes thereof, and for all matters stated or required by any of the provisions of sections 7 and 8 to be prescribed.

(1) Without prejudice to the provisions of subsection (2) of section 10, every worker who is for the time being included in the labour reserve, and registered as being so included, shall, for all purposes connected with or incidental to the payment of stand-by-wages prescribed by or under any other written law, the grant of holidays or leave, the allocation of workers for engagement by employers of labour in the port, and for purposes of disciplinary control (including dismissal from the reserve), be deemed to be in the employment of the Port Commissioner.

(2) Every day for which a stand-by wage is payable to any worker in the labour reserve shall, for the purposes of the grant of holidays or leave to that worker, be deemed to be a day on which he is employed. (3) No worker included in the labour reserve shall, by reason of anything in subsection (1), be deemed for any purpose whatsoever to be in the employment of the Government.

(1) The Port Commissioner shall maintain a fund for the purposes of the administration of the labour reserve.

(2) All expenses incurred by the Port Commissioner in respect of any matter referred to in subsection (1) of section 6, or in complying with any regulation made under paragraph (d) of section 5, or in respect of any liability otherwise incurred by the Port Commissioner, in his capacity as such, to or in respect of any worker included in the labour reserve, shall be paid out of the moneys in the fund maintained under this section.

(3) The Port Commissioner shall have charge and control of the moneys in the fund for the time being and be responsible for the proper administration of the fund and the receipt and payment of moneys into or out of the fund, and may for such purposes maintain a separate account in any bank in Ceylon.

(4) The accounts of the fund for each financial year ending on the thirtieth day of September shall be audited by the Auditor-General; and copies of the accounts of the fund and of the reports of the Auditor-General thereon shall, at such times as may be prescribed, be forwarded to the Minister, to the Colombo Port Commission, and to each employer of labour in the port.

(1) The amount of the expenses required by section 7 to be paid out of the fund maintained under that section shall be defrayed by employers of labour in the port by means of contributions to be made from time to time of such sums as shall be determined in the prescribed manner ; and in the event of default by any employer in the payment of any sum due from him as such contribution, the sum may be recovered by the Port Commissioner on application made to the Magistrate’s Court of Colombo in such summary manner as may be prescribed.

(2) All sums paid or recovered under subsection (1) shall be credited to the fund maintained under section 7.

(1) On and after a date to be specified by the Minister, by Notification published in the Gazette, as the date on which the provisions of this section shall come into force, * no employer of labour in the port shall, subject to such exceptions as may be prescribed, engage for the purposes of work in the port, any person other than-

(2) Any employer who contravenes the provisions of subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.

(1) Notwithstanding anything in the Wages Boards Ordinance –

(2) Where any worker included in the labour reserve is engaged by any employer of labour in the port for any work in the port during any period, that employer shall, for the purposes of the application of the Wages Boards Ordinance in respect of the payment of wages for such period and of all matters other than matters mentioned in section 6 of this Act. and for the purposes of the Workmen’s Compensation Ordinance, be deemed to be the employer of that worker.

(a) in the event of any injury being caused to any such worker by accident occurring while he is engaged by any employer of labour in the port for any work in the port, the employer by whom he is so engaged shall for the purposes of that Ordinance be deemed to be the employer of such worker ,

(b) in the event of any injury being caused to any such worker by accident occurring at any time while he, though not engaged by any employer of labour, is required to be in the port in his capacity as a person included in the labour reserve, the Port Commissioner shall for the purposes of that Ordinance be deemed to be the employer of that worker ;

(c) save in the circumstances mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, neither the Port Commissioner nor any employer of labour in the port shall be deemed for the purposes of that Ordinance to be the employer of any worker included in the labour reserve.

(1) The Port Commissioner may, with the prior approval of the Minister –

(2) The Minister may make regulations prescribing the charges or scales of charges to be made by the Port Commissioner for the use of equipment or facilities which are made available under subsection (1) and for services provided under that subsection, and for the manner of the recovery of such charges in a summary manner in the event of default in payment.

(1) The Minister may make regulations for the proper administration and regulation of all premises for the time being in the occupation or under the control of the Port Commissioner, for matters affecting the efficient operation of the port, and for the conduct of workers and other persons in such premises or in the port ; and such regulations may in particular provide for all or any of the following matters : –

(2) Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of any regulation made under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.

(3) Any person who obstructs the Port Commissioner or any other officer in the performance of any duties imposed by any regulation made under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.

(1) Every regulation made under this Act shall be published in the Gazette and shall come into force on the date of such publication or on such later date as may be specified therein.

(2) Every regulation made under this Act shall, as soon as may be after the date of the publication thereof and not later than three months after that date, be brought before the Senate and the House of Representatives by motion that such regulation be approved.

(3) Any such regulation which is not brought before the Senate and the House of Representatives within the period specified in subsection (2), or which the Senate or the House of Representatives refuses to approve, shall be deemed to be rescinded at the end of that period or with effect from, the date of such refusal, as the case may be, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder or to the making of any new regulation. Notification of the date on which any regulation is deemed to be so rescinded shall be published in the Gazette.

(4) Every such regulation which is approved by the Senate and the House of Representatives shall be as valid and effectual as if it were herein enacted. Notification of such approval shall be published in the Gazette.

(1) Every person who is guilty of an offence under this Act shall on conviction after summary trial before a Magistrate be liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand rupees, or to imprisonment of either description for a period not exceeding six months, or to both such fine and imprisonment.

(2) No prosecution for any offence under this Act shall be instituted except by, or with the written sanction of, the Port Commissioner.

(3) Where an offence under this Act committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, he, as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(1) No sufferance shall be granted by the Collector under section 34 or section 62 of that Ordinance until the Port Commissioner has communicated to the Collector in writing his consent to the grant of such sufferance.

(2) Section 41 of that Ordinance, in its application in the case of goods placed in any Colombo port warehouse, shah have effect subject to the modification that the powers conferred by that section on the Collector (other than the power to require packages to be stowed if necessary in a grille or other place of security inside any Colombo port warehouse) shall be exercised by the Port Commissioner.

(3) Section 42 of that Ordinance, in its application in the case of any offence committed in relation to any goods in any Colombo port warehouse, shall have effect subject to the modification that the reference in that section to the Collector shall be deemed to be a reference to the Port Commissioner.

(4) Section 59 of that Ordinance shall have effect subject to the modification that the power conferred by that section to appoint legal quays or other places from which goods may be laden, put off or waterborne shall be exercised by the Port Commissioner.

(5) Section 60 of that Ordinance shall have effect subject to the modification that the power to issue stiffening orders under that section shall be exercised by the Port Commissioner.

(6) Section 102 of that Ordinance shall have effect subject to the modification that the power conferred by that section on any officer of customs to require the removal of certain articles from the customs premises shall be exercised by any officer authorized in that behalf by the Port Commissioner in writing.

(7) Section 112 of that Ordinance shall have effect subject to the modification that the powers conferred by that section on the Collector shall be exercised by the Port Commissioner.

(8) Section 116 of that Ordinance shall have effect subject to the following modifications: –

(9) Section 117 of that Ordinance shall have effect subject to the following modifications: –

(10) Section 146 and section 147 of that Ordinance, in their application in relation to any offence or contravention mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act, shall have effect subject to the following modifications : –

(11) Notwithstanding anything in section 153 of that Ordinance, the amount of any penalty payable under section 42 thereof in respect of any goods placed in a Colombo port warehouse or payable under section 116 or section 117 in respect of any contravention committed in the port of Colombo, shall be paid into the hands of the Port Commissioner and shall (after deducting any expenses incurred) be paid and applied as follows, that is to say, one moiety to the Deputy Secretary to the Treasury for the purpose of the general revenue of Ceylon and the other moiety into a fund under the control of the Port Commissioner for distribution at his discretion among the officers concerned and the informers.

(12) Section 163 of that Ordinance shall, in the case of any forfeiture or penalty, or liability to forfeiture or penalty, incurred under section 42 of that Ordinance in relation to goods placed in any Colombo port warehouse, or under section 116 or section 117 of that Ordinance in respect of any contravention committed in the port of Colombo, have effect subject to the modification that the power of mitigation shall be exercisable by the Port Commissioner, except where the Collector has, under section 41 of that Ordinance, required packages to be stored in a grille or other place of security inside any Colombo port warehouse.

(1) This Act shall, save as expressly provided therein, be read and construed as one with the Customs Ordinance.

(2) In this Act, and in the Customs Ordinance (in its application as modified by this Act), unless the context otherwise requires –

” Colombo port warehouse” means any Queen’s warehouse or other warehouse for the time being specified in the Second Schedule to this Act;

” employer ” means any person who employs any worker for work in the port of Colombo, whether such worker is engaged by him directly or by some other person under any arrangement or agreement to provide or secure workers for such employment ;

” the port ” means the port of Colombo ;

” Port Commissioner ” means the person for the time being holding office as Port Commissioner, Colombo, and includes any officer acting under the authority in writing of the Port Commissioner ;

“prescribed ” means prescribed by regulations made under this Act.

(a) any person in the service of Her Majesty’s naval, military or air forces, or

(b) any matter connected with such forces :