DailyPost 2322
WHO WILL REGULATE THE REGULATOR?
For us Indians everything is a job which provides a salary and in addition power, influence and hence a position in the concerned ecosystem. If this is in an all-pervasive area, the powerplay extends to the public domain. Comfort and regular non-interference turn out to be the key for such bodies and the positions associated to them. The world does not know the exact job description, if they know of it and are practicing it, then they don’t make it known to the public and media to avoid any backlash in situations like the current one. The accountability matrix remains unknown.
Every single time the confusion gets confounded because of this lack of clarity. One is not sure of the fact if this is a lacuna or it has been inbuilt into the system to provide the nature of comfort, which the people of that seniority and age look for, in this country. The general feeling is that but for regular reports and compliances, broadly of a mechanical nature, nothing great happens. These don’t mean anything as it is not even a true indicator of the superficial functioning of the entity / sector / area. To add to their woe and misery, large number of regulators don’t have the wherewithal to intensively control the activities / operations they are assigned to proactively regulate.
A passive regulation is no regulation. Nor do we then need any specialized body as a regulator. The regulator is where the buck stops. Its final port of call. The whole sector depends on what is the regulator mandated to do, the resources made available and whether the mandated tasks are being performed in an exceptional manner. The regulators job is bringing a balance in favour of public good and justice, while allowing the healthy activities / entities to grow and prosper set right or weed out the incorrigible ones. Opportunity to set right needs to be provided with a stipulated timeline.
With the nature of legal powers vested in the regulatory agencies, what is expected out of them is to work with surgical precision, wherever required with the right impact and fall out. Defining actions would define the worth of the regulator and would also define the ease of business and life in this country. If the regulator is like another government office, then what is big fun in having them. In the backdrop of the Hindenburg-Adani saga, the regulators are themselves in the dock. No preventive actions seem to have taken place, when for sure this bubble was not been created in day. Who regulates the regulator is as at the crux of it? Or just that they are non-performers. Don’t we have any actionable intelligence on the risky players and the market itself? The regulator has to either validate or discard, citing valid reasons on the issues raised. Time is of essence, if things don’t happen within the given time, everything turns out to be futile.
THE INEPTIUTE OF THE REGUALTORY MECHANISMS PUT THE COUNTRY IN A RISKY MODE.
Sanjay Sahay