:: Dilip Cherian

Natural reforms

By Dilip Cherian

Sep 13 : A year after an expert panel’s submitted recommendations for reforms in the coal sector, the government has finally decided to set up a regulator along the lines of ones in the insurance and telecom sectors. Instituting an independent regulator was a key recommendation, among others, of the K.S. Parikh panel set up by the Prime Minister’s Office. At the time, sources say, the report had met with some resistance from coal ministry babus and, of course, the Left parties. But with the Left out of the picture, the government now is clearly more confident of liberalising the coal sector. The ministry has apparently approved the decision and a bill is being introduced in Parliament very soon.

Setting up a regulatory authority will, of course, end the monopoly of the government-owned Coal India, the world’s single-largest producer of coal, which fixes and revises prices of coal in the domestic market — and also blunt the powers of the coal ministry babus. An independent regulator for coal, observers note, will help establish a level playing field, as envisioned by Mr Parikh and other experts.

Interestingly, following the Ambani spat there is talk of setting up an even more independent regulatory authority for the entire petroleum and natural gas sector as well. So a coal regulator may just be the vanguard of a new wave of highly needed reforms.

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Corruption blues

Barely days after the biennial conference in New Delhi where Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chief Ashwini Kumar announced his sleuths would now fast-track all investigations and complete them within a year, Jharkhand has already got off the block! The state law secretary P.R. Das has forwarded a government notification for setting up special CBI courts to the state high court. Ranchi and Dhanbad districts now will get two courts each to exclusively try cases lodged by the CBI. Four other courts are coming up in Jamshedpur, Daltonganj, Dumka and Hazaribagh to attend to cases lodged by the state vigilance bureau.

Presently, 500 CBI cases are pending in Ranchi and Dhanbad alone, according to sources. Despite this, only 33 out of the 53 pending fodder scam cases have been disposed off. Babus Sunil Kumar Sinha, ex-animal husbandry official, Junul Bhengraj, former regional director of the AHD (animal husbandry department), Dr K.M. Prasad, former assistant director, and K.B. Lal, former travelling veterinary official, were recently convicted.

And now with these special CBI courts, corrupt babus in the state have reason to be nervous! Meanwhile, the CBI is to set up around 71 courts sanctioned by the law ministry for speedy disposal of cases across the country. But, Jharkhand is the first to take steps to curb corruption.