Plea in Madras HC challenges Tender Notification inviting Law Firms to draft Legislative Amendments to Shipping Law

A recent move aimed to enlist the services of Indian Law Firms in drafting legislative changes to the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 and allied rules and regulations has been challenged in the Madras High Court..Following the issuance of tender notifications to this effect by the Indian Ports Association, Captain R Venkataraman challenged the same in the High Court. The petition assails the jurisdiction of the Indian Ports Association to issue such a tender notification, given that it is not a government authority..Two such notifications were issued by the Association, claiming that they had been tasked by the the Union Ministry of Shipping and the Directorate General (DG) of Shipping to select Law Firms to help revamp shipping laws..The first such E-Request for Proposal (E-RFP) was issued in September 2018. Thereafter, a similar notification was issued in December 2018. Such outsourcing of legislative drafting for monetary consideration, argues the petitioner, denotes an impermissible delegation of legislative functions..Through the E-RFP, the Association had invited applications from Indian Law Firms satisfying prescribed eligibility criteria to draft amendments to the prevailing shipping laws. The eligibility criteria for applying law firms included:.that the firm should be based in Delhithat the firm’s average annual turnover for the preceding three years be at least Rs 5 Crore..The petitioner has challenged these criteria as unconstitutional. As per the petition, these criteria violate Articles 14, 15, 16 and 19 of the Constitution, given that they do not have any rational nexus with the object sought to be achieved by the E-RFP..“… only Law Firms in New Delhi with an average turn over of Rs. 5 Crores are permitted to even apply, even though New Delhi is land locked on all sides and the probability of lawyers in New Delhi being well versed on Shipping is low when compared to Lawyers practicing in Coastal States.”.The petitioner further highlights that these developments took place even though a 2016 Merchant Shipping Bill is still pending in Parliament..A letter raising these concerns sent to the Shipping Ministry, the Law Ministry and the DG of Shipping in October 2018 did not yield any response, thereby prompting him to approach the High Court..After hearing submissions by Advocate P Giridharan on behalf of the petitioner, the Bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and P Rajamanickam passed an interim order last month staying the eligibility conditions mentioned above, noting,