Regulatory architecture still evolving, says Ashok Chawla

Observing that the country's regulatory architecture is still evolving, Competition Commission chief Ashok Chawla today said issues cropping up among regulators are expected to be settled in due course.
"Regulatory architecture is evolving and many issues are getting settled by way of some kind of understanding amongst and between the regulators where we need to interact with each other. Otherwise courts will handle these things.
"My own sense is that I don't see these kind of problems of overload on the regulatory architecture going beyond next five to seven years," he said at an event here.
In recent past, there have been instances of perceived regulatory overlaps.

"The issue that regulators very often have blurred responsibilities, have areas where it is possible for one to get into another," he noted.
Referring to regulators, Chawla also said there is always the difficulty of them tending to "tending to behave as if they are larger than life".

A regulator is not part of the state, only an extension of the executive, he added.
Environment Secretary Ashok Lavasa said that adhering to rules depends more on the way businesses are done rather than just enforcing the regulations.
He said that on the environmental side, there are many regulations that have been made which affect day to day living, day to day business but "do we have the wherewithal to enforce these regulations".

"... The answer certainly does not lie in creating an army of people who can enforce these regulations, the answer lies in the way we do business, in the way we understand our responsibility in adhering to these regulations," he added.
They were speaking at an event organised by the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI).