Regulators for petroleum, civil aviation, railways likely

The government is considering regulatory authorities for petroleum, civil aviation and the railways, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said.

Speaking at the 14th annual convocation of the National Law School of India University here, he said regulation in banking, commodity futures market, capital market, insurance, telecommunications and power were reasonably well-established.

Chidambaram said regulators for the competition policy and pension were in different stages of formulation.

"Some more sectors like petroleum, civil aviation and railways are under consideration. The list is a long one and is expected to grow longer," he said.Stressing the need for legal reforms, Chidambaram said some of the old laws were incompatible with economic reforms.

According to him, there are 3,500 central laws in force along with 25,000 to 30,000 state laws in addition to a substantial number of subordinate laws.

"Old laws can have clauses that are incompatible with the modern economy," he said.

Pointing out that there were 45 central Acts directly pertaining to labour in addition to a large body of Acts that indirectly concerned employees, he said, "Many inconsistencies have crept in."

Citing the Weekly Holiday Act of 1942 and Shops And Establishments Act of 1948, Chidambaram said they required every shop or establishment to be closed for a day in a week. "This is inconsistent with the 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year mission of modern retailing."

The Acts also require repainting or revarnishing of inside walls at least once every five years. "These kinds of retailing prescriptions are inconsistent with the process of economic reforms," he said.

Chidambaram expressed concern over the delay in execution of major projects, resulting in time and cost overruns.

"Of the 742 projects, each with a value of Rs 20 crore or more, 269 are still in different stages of implementation with time overruns of three to 252 months and cost overruns of Rs 30,420 crore,x" he said.