CERC may soon be answerable to Parliament
The government of India has recently proposed to extend autonomous power to infrastructure regulators of the nation. Infrastructure regulators such as TRAI and CERC will have to now be answerable to Parliament. The regulators of electricity, post, airports, highways will now have to submit annual reports to Parliament and be legally accountable.
According to reports, such a move is expected to bring uniformity in functioning of regulators.
The draft regulatory reform bill plans to fix tenures of members of regulators and insulating the same from any political interference. A member of regulator will not be allowed to engage in any consultancy project with any organization during incumbency or 2 years after resignation.
Autonomy empowers regulators to build their own staff or to disburse funds from Consolidated Funds of India, without seeking government approval.
This particular move will curb the issue of inadvertent delays and will enhance the efficiency of these regulatory bodies, subject to nod from parliamentarians.
Past media articles contemplating such a move can be read here –