The Union government is considering legislation to ‘monitor the work' of independent regulatory authorities to make them ‘more accountable without compromising their independence.'
Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the occasion of 65th Independence Day on Monday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that at the moment there was no legislation to scrutinise the functioning of independent regulatory bodies.
He, however, did not name any regulatory body. Some of the authorities include the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority .
However, reports and recommendations made by most of the regulatory bodies are not binding on the government. They are at best considered suggestions by experts in the respective fields.
The other categories of the authorities to oversee the functioning of the government are set up under the provisions of the Constitution. They include the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG), the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and the Election Commission.
In recent months, some of the functionaries of the government and the ruling combine have raised questions on the jurisdiction and functioning of CAG.
Constraints
In his interaction with a group of editors in July, the Prime Minister had urged CAG, Parliament and the media to appreciate the constraints under which the decisions were made by the government.
Dr. Singh contended at the interaction: “We live in a world of uncertainty and ex-post whether it is the Comptroller and Auditor-General, whether it is a Parliamentary committee then they?analyse?post-facto. They have a lot more facts which were not available to those who took the decision.”
He said: “We take decisions in a world of uncertainty and that's the perspective I think Parliament, our CAG and our media must adopt if this nation is to move forward.”
During his Independence Day address, Dr. Singh said: “In recent years, we have established independent regulatory authorities in many areas. These authorities discharge many responsibilities which were earlier in the domain of the government itself. We have no legislation which would enable monitoring of the work of these regulatory authorities and make them more accountable, without, however, compromising their independence. We are also considering enactment of such a law.”
In the coming months, the government would constitute an environmental assessment and monitoring authority to streamline the process of environmental clearances.
Government purchases
The Prime Minister also talked about the intent to introduce a Bill by the end of the year to reduce corruption in government purchases.
“ Government awards contracts worth thousands of crores every year. There are frequent complaints of corruption in these decisions. We had constituted a committee to suggest measures to reduce corruption in government purchases. The committee has recommended that, like many other countries, we should also have a public procurement legislation which lays down the principles and practice with regard to government purchases.”
Acknowledging that many times the government discretion was misused in the allocation of scarce resources and in grant of clearances, Dr. Singh asserted that his government would put an end to such discretionary powers wherever possible.
Hailing the media for its independence and activism, the Prime Minister said the Right to Information Act that “we have enacted has enabled our press and people to keep a strict watch on the work of the government.”
He said: “Today, many government decisions, which, in the absence of this Act, would have escaped public scrutiny, are coming to light. I believe this is a big step forward in eradicating corruption.”
