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Thiruvengadam, Arun Kumar --- "Flag-bearers of a new era? The evolution of new regulatory institutions in India (1991–2016)" [2017] ELECD 1094; in Rose-Ackerman, Susan; Lindseth, L. Peter; Emerson, Blake (eds), "Comparative Administrative Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 218

Book Title: Comparative Administrative Law

Editor(s): Rose-Ackerman, Susan; Lindseth, L. Peter; Emerson, Blake

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781784718657

Section: Chapter 13

Section Title: Flag-bearers of a new era? The evolution of new regulatory institutions in India (1991–2016)

Author(s): Thiruvengadam, Arun Kumar

Number of pages: 16

Abstract/Description:

This chapter provides a critical, descriptive account of the emergence of a select few regulatory state institutions in India since the early 1990s, when the national government initiated a series of new economic policies. The creation and evolution of these institutions has arguably altered the landscape of Indian administrative law in fundamental ways, the significance and impact of which has yet to be carefully studied and understood. In describing the factors that influenced the formation and evolution of these new regulatory institutions, I analyze their original design and critically assess their functioning across the quarter century of their existence. While focusing on new regulatory institutions in India as a whole (which currently constitute 25 in number), the focus will be on three sectors in particular: telecom, electricity and the securities sector. I argue that as these regulatory institutions mature and move into the next phase of their evolution, far greater attention needs to be paid to the appointments’ process and the persons who are selected as regulators. There is a dire need for specialized knowledge and skills. The current system where mostly retired bureaucrats are appointed to these positions needs to be reviewed and changed.