Planning Commission member Montek Singh Ahluwalia yesterday said that the infrastructure sector needed efficient regulatory bodies to address the legal issues.
Talking to Business Standard after addressing national conference on `legal reforms in infrastructure: addressing the missing links,' Dr Ahluwalia said, though the Integrated Transport Policy has not addressed the legal aspect, the polices like build-operate-transfer has sorted out the legal tangles to attract private investment in the road projects.
Delivering the guest of honour address, Ahluwalia said, the reform process would not have got off the ground, if India has waited for the right legal system to initiate reform.
Dr Ahluwalia recommended to review all legal provisions constantly over three years.
India had chosen to start reforms and change laws as it needed, he added.
According to Dr Ahluwalia, though there were problems in private participation in infrastructure, significant progress has been made in every single infrastructure sub-sector, Dr Ahluwalia said.
He stressed upon the fact that the legal system has to be changed to facilitate 50 per cent capacity addition with private participation in every sub-sector, except roads.
This was essential for the kind of growth India hoped to achieve, Ahluwalia added.
Stating that the government should go for a flexible policy framework for the infrastructure sector, Dr Ahluwalia said that this would allow doing away with archive and incomplete legal aspects.
Dr Ahluwalia said that the industry associations should always bring to the government attention any inaccuracies or flaws in the policies, making these points loud and clear.
Supreme court justice Rajendra Babu spoke on the need to have clear and simpler laws in the infrastructure sector CII president Arun Bharat Ram said a strong and efficient legal system needed to be evolved for the infrastructure sector.
Laws must ensure stability and be clear and transparent. Laws must also be fairly enforced with a clear understanding of the role of the private sector, Mr Bharat Ram added.
