Use existing powers before seeking more

Seeking ever-increasing powers is an integral feature of regulatory agencies

This newspaper recently reported that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had asked for powers to tap telephones and the attempt had been rebuffed by the government. The attempt appears to be yet another effort by yet another regulator to expand its statutory powers, without fully putting to use the exhaustive powers already vested in it. 

Every time a crime is discovered, Indian law enforcers seek and are granted enhanced powers. It is an unchallenged postulate in India that the primary hurdle to combating crime is the absence of laws, rather than the absence of state capacity to put