PNB scam: How do you make regulators accountable?

It is time the concept of independent evaluation offices for different regulators

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that in India while the political leadership is held accountable for all its actions and inaction, the regulators are not accountable in the same way. Mr Jaitley’s comment came in the wake of the letter of undertaking (LoU) scam that has engulfed the state-controlled Punjab National Bank (PNB).

A few days prior to the finance minister’s statement, the lack of an oversight mechanism in India for key policy-framing bodies and institutions was highlighted by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who was the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission before it was wound up by the current