Shipping Ministry issues draft marine navigation bill; Aims to repeal Lighthouse Act, empower DGLL

Aimed at adopting global best practices in marine navigation, Ministry of Shipping on Friday issued a draft Aids to Navigation Bill, 2020 seeking suggestions from stakeholders and general public.

The draft bill aims at repealing the colonial Lighthouse Act, 1927, and provides for empowering the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL) with additional power and functions.

The draft bill, which will replace 97 year old Lighthouse Act, proposes to incorporate the global best practices, technological developments and India''s international obligations in the field of marine navigation.

Union Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya said the proposed legislation aims to regulate state-of-the-art technologies of marine navigation, which earlier used to get tangled up in statutory provisions of the Lighthouse Act, 1927.

The draft bill provides for empowering the DGLL with additional power and functions such as vessel traffic service, wreck flagging, training and certification, implementation of other obligations under international conventions where India is a signatory.

It also provides for identification and development of heritage lighthouses.

The draft bill comprises a new schedule of offences, along with commensurate penalties for obstructing and damaging the aids to navigation, and non-compliance with directives issued by the central government and other bodies under the draft bill.

With the advent of modern technologically improved aids to maritime navigation, the role of authorities regulating and operating maritime navigation has changed drastically, the statement said.

Therefore, the new law encompasses a major shift from lighthouses to modern aids of navigation, it added.

The draft bill has been uploaded on the DGLL''s website. Citizens can submit their suggestions and opinions regarding the draft bill to [e-mail] latest by July 24.