Shouldn’t regulators have constitutional status?

News: The recent controversy at National Stock Exchange (NSE) raises many questions of misgovernance.

Who is at fault regulators or the design?

The flaw is in the design, and not always the regulators themselves. They can resist their ministry only up to a point.

The problem exists as in India there are asymmetric relationships. It has three types of regulators. At the top level, are those created by the Constitution. Then, those created by Parliament and at the bottom are the ones created by the ministries. The second and the third are thus at a great disadvantage, as they cannot perform their duties independently.

What changes are required to make regulatory bodies perform independently?

First, there is a need for a symmetrical relationship between ministers and regulators. Regulators should not be a subordinate department of the ministry.

Second, All regulatory agencies should make constitutional bodies like the Election Commission, the Supreme Court, and the CAG. They should be made independent of the minister, and their funding should be assured from the Consolidated Fund of India instead of budgetary allocations.

Third, The heads of all these agencies should have cabinet ranking. This would help them discharge their functions independently.

Source: This post is based on the article “Shouldn’t regulators have constitutional status?” published in Business Standard on 26th February 2022.