Montek Singh Ahluwalia sees conflict of interest.
A retiring Secretary should not become the regulator for the sector that he had overseen while in Government, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, said here on Tuesday. He was speaking at a conference on the Regulatory Reform Bill. There have been several such instances, including the current RBI Governor, the last (acting) Chairman of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), and the current and former TRAI Chairmen and a former CERC Chairman.
However, a similar Cabinet note of the Planning Commission was earlier shot down. Regulators should be accountable to Parliament, Mr Ahluwalia said. He also said that Parliament secrecy should be done away with and details of the discussions and comments in Standing Committee meetings made public. Mr E.M.S. Nachiappan, Rajya Sabha MP, endorsed this and said the Standing Committee proceedings should be televised live.
On the proposed reform Bill, the CCI Chairman, Mr Dhanendra Kumar, said that since it would impact the existing regulators, comments should be invited from all.
Calling for widespread consultations on the Bill, Mr Lalit Mansingh, Chairman, Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, said the Law Ministry is working on some issues separately which the Bill attempts to cover.
Mr Arun Maira, Member, Planning Commission, felt that the proposals in the Bill should be in the form of guidelines. “We are not ready yet to have another Act,” he said.