law: Indian Ports Act, 1908
  65. Grant of sites for sailors institutes 
  Any local authority in which any immovable property in or near a
  
  port is vested may, 66[with the previous sanction, in the case of a
  
  cantonment authority or the port authority of a major port, of the Central
  
  Government, and in other cases, of the State Government], appropriate and
  
  either retain and apply, or transfer by way of gift or otherwise, the whole or
  
  any part of the property as a site for, or for use as, a sailors' home or other
  
  institution for the health, recreation and temporal well-being of sailors.