Human resources & regulatory autonomy

Statutory regulatory authorities need autonomy in staffing their organisations with specialists who have integrity and knowledge

Newspapers reported recently the call of the chairman of the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) for a “standalone legislation”. NFRA is a relatively new regulator—largely invisible to the general public—constituted in October 2018 under Section 132 of the Companies Act, 2013. The chairman reportedly said that this section does not provide comprehensive coverage of all the functions and powers that are required to constitute the NFRA as a corporate financial reporting regulator. As the way forward, he said “… in the interest of functional, financial and administrative autonomy of the NFRA, there is a compelling need for a standalone legislation”.