Special provisions as to major ports and aerodromes

Article 302AAA, Draft Constitution of India 1948

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution, the President may by public notification direct that as from such date as may be specified in the notification:-

(a) any law made by Parliament or by the 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, or

(b) any existing law shall cease to have effect in any major port or aerodrome except as respects things done or omitted to be done before the said date or shall in its application to such port or aerodrome have effect subject to such exceptions or modifications as may be specified in the notification.

(2)  In this article :-

(a) ‘major port’ means a port declared to be a major port by or under any law made by Parliament or any existing law and includes all areas for the time being included within the limits of such port ;

(b) ‘aerodrome’ means aerodrome as defined for the purposes of the enactments relating to airways, aircraft and air navigation.

Article 364, Constitution of India 1950

(1) Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, the President may by public notification direct that as from such date as may be specified in the notification—

(a) any law made by Parliament or by the 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, or

(b) any existing law shall cease to have effect in any major port or aerodrome except as respects things done or omitted to be done before the said date, or shall in its application to such port or aerodrome have effect subject to such exceptions or modifications as may be specified in the notification.

⁠(2) In this article—

(a) “major port” means a port declared to be a major port by or under any law made by Parliament or any existing law and includes all areas for the time being included within the limits of such port;

(b) “aerodrome” means aerodrome as defined for the purposes of the enactments relating to airways, aircraft and air navigation.

Draft Article 302AAA (Article 364 of the Constitution of India, 1950) was absent in the Draft Constitution of India 1948. On 17 October 1949, a Drafting Committee Member introduced it as an amendment in the Assembly.

The Draft Article gave the President the power to publicly notify that a Union or State law(s) will not apply to a major port or aerodrome. Alternatively, the President could also decide how a Union or State law should be applied to these facilities.

The Drafting Committee member told the Assembly that ports and aerodromes are special public spaces as they receive international passengers and have unique security requirements. Situations may arise where State and Union laws might not be sufficient or appropriate to ensure smooth administration.

The Draft Article aimed to give the President legislative and executive power to deal with such situations. A Member argued that since Parliament alone (and not the State legislatures) had the power to make laws for ports and aerodromes under the Draft Constitution, there was no need to give the President such powers. The Drafting Committee Chairman corrected the Member and said that the Union legislature had only limited powers, the rest lay with the State legislatures where the port or aerodrome was located.

Therefore, the Draft Article was necessary. There was no further discussion and Draft Article 302AA was adopted on 17 October 1949.