CEE Oct-Dec 2002

Bl LL 0~ STATl 1 TORY BODIES SOO~ FOR BETTER (;J{IP ON Jll(;JI\\ .\.YS Puwncial r.;xpress, New Delh i. 2-1.10.]0()2 The government plans to setup hi ghwa y admi nist rations and tribunals to exercise better control over the at ional l lighways by bringing a legislation in the winter session or Parliament. These statutory bod ics arc being thought of since construction and widening or roads through Rs. 60,000 crore investment in the Nat iona l II ighways Development Project ( IIDP) does not alone guarantee fre e movement of traffic. The hi ghway administ ration will be re sponsible for removing encroachment and ensuring sa fety of traffic. It wil l exercise the same pO\\ers as arc vested in a civil coUlt under the Code of Civil Procedure 1908. Appeals against the administration will be heard by the tribunals. "No other court or authority except the Supreme Court and high courts wi ll have jurisdiction over disputes heard by the tribunal ," said a senior official. A draft bi ll for creation ofthese bodies to thi s effec t has been circulated by the Ministry of Road Transport. and 1-1 ighways . The hi ghway admi ni stration , comprisi ng officers appointed by the centre. wi II exercise contra I over a defined area. It could cover a s tate, Union territory or a particular highway. The tribunal s will comprise one presiding officer who should be qualified to be a judge of the high cou rt or be a member of the Indian Legal Service holqing a post not lower than grade-If :'·· REGULATION NEWS 0 ffic ia Is . c ia im that the legi slation. if it comes through, will ensure better managemen t of highways. 1-1 oweve r. former Director General (Roads). Mr. D.P. Gupta fee ls that more than legi slation it is executi on of the existing laws which is required. "Encroachment can never be tackled by law. It is implementation which is needed.'' said Mr. Gupta. It is feared that highwa y adm inistration and tribunals will only add to the existing government set-up. Besides, no centra l authority can ensure smooth highway runs unl ess ass isted by state governments. Courtesy : Cemelll News Digest, 19-25 Oct 02, Pp 11-12. Fax: 022-220-10582 E171ail: cmctbbrrj )bom3.vsnl.nel.in I Veb: www.cmaindia.org BRE.\TIIF: LIFE INTO Lr\W Dr. Albrecht Kaupp The good, bad and the ugly applies to Indian laws as well. Good laws are enforced. Bad ones are ne ither known nor widely enforced . The ugly ones offer no solutions but serve only to breed corruption . It took four long years to formulate the Energy Conservation A c t (ECA) 200 / and gu id e it through pub li c resista nce, the s tanding committees of the Pari iament. to be finally signed by the President on September 29 , 200 1. The ECA its..:!!. as all laws are, is dead matter written up in 22 pages, until an infrast ructure, a budget, an implementation agency and rules and regulations as well as nolifications are in place. The fede ral structure of the lndian democracy compl icates matters since the power of the central government to facilitate and 66 enforce efficient use of energy and its conservation is by no means enough to breathe life into the law. According to the ECA, the state governments ''may", but do not "have to" or are not "required'' or '·ob liged'' to do anythin g with regard to the law. How do we then. fo r ins tance, haul up an energy waster who refuses to make more profits by cleaning up his mess in say, Madurai ? We certainly require state promotion and enforcement or the law. The ECA and its ho pefully positive encouragement are tailored for those designated consumers who have fallen beh ind mainstream India and need a push as well as solutions to come back and recover. It is not a law to regulate or provide a he lping hand to India' s top performers. Our es tima te of a national budget to implement and en force the ECA is about Rs I 00 crorc ($20 million) a year. This annual budget is peanuts compared to the impact in te rms of increased profit enforced upon the "poor victims" of the law and the overall macro-economic benefits for India. It will be interesting to wa tch what sect ions of th e law a re prioritiscd and implemented lirst to achieve mome ntum as wel l as a high allocation efficiency of commi tted resources. Implementing a law in terms of activitir'> resli 1 .; tg in output~. is like .pt l'paring fc· 11lU It ipk· "h~)t~e test. At the end ofthe day, it i-., .It<.: impact that counts by selecti ng ind icators that spell success. But the law sti ll does not know its target group and the target groups do not know the law. Ou r favourite fi r~ l s tep to implements en a law would be to in iti ate dialogue with th e 15 designated consumer groups tn