New CII chief for removal of discretionary powers in Govt

While supporting an amnesty scheme for unearthing black money, new CII President B Muthuraman today said his chamber will press for removal of discretionary powers of government functionaries which are often "misused".

In his first press conference after taking over reins of the country's leading industry body, Muthuraman said that the "misuse of discretion and standards, lack of transparent rules and procedures and lack of transparency in public procurement are the key challenges for governance".

CII would initiate an action programme for removal of discretionary powers, particularly in allotment of natural resources, he said.

It may be recalled that country's top corporate honchos including Unitech Managing Director Sanjay Chandra and ADAG group MD Gautam Doshi have been arrested in the 2G allocation scam.

On the problem of black money, Muthuraman, who is also Vice-Chairman of Tata Steel, said the "CII is of the view that there is a need for an amnesty scheme. If somebody does not declare (black money) you must punish."

However, the amnesty scheme can only be announced once. "You cannot have two", he said adding "only by an absolute carrot and stick approach this issue can be solved".

Echoing views expressed recently by noted industrialist and Bajaj Auto Chairman Rahul Bajaj, Muthuraman said, "we are dead against black money and corruption and this is one problem in the country which has to be solved".

Supporting the recent Anna Hazare movement against corruption,  Bajaj had said the industry was "sick of corruption".

The CII President said if India is to emerge as the major destination for global investors, the issue of quality of governance cannot be brushed aside.

The key challenges for the government remain "misuse of discretion and standards, lack of transparent rules and procedures and lack of transparency in public procurement".

CII, which has set up a task force on integrity and transparency in governance, would initiate an action programme for transparency, independent regulation and removal of discretionary powers in allotment of natural resources.

The Group of Ministers(GoM) on tackling corruption is also considering whether the discretionary powers of the ministers should be removed.

Muthuraman said if the country has to achieve a double digit economic growth, as many as 100 mega projects should be put on the fast track and reforms like introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and uniformity in the APMC (Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee) Act should be ensured.

Manufacturing has to grow by 12% per annum  and its share in the overall Gross Domestic Product should increase to 25% for achieving the high growth. Presently it is about 15-17%.