Manish Tewari demands Parl panel on administrative reforms

New Delhi: Ahead of the Parliament session which resumes on March 2, former Union Minister and Congress MP Manish Tewari has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla demanding a permanent parliamentary standing committee on comprehensive administrative reforms.

He said: "Time has come to set up a permanent Parliament Standing Committee for comprehensive administrative reforms, which should be headed by the Speaker or jointly with the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha."

He suggested there should be 30 members in it like any other parliamentary standing committee and should have a mandate to examine reports of both the previous administrative reforms commissions, take evidence, hold broad based consultations with the experts and come up with detailed recommendations as to how India's archaic administrative system can be holistically overhauled.

Tewari said despite two administrative reforms commissions set up earlier, there has been no attempt or effort in the past seven decades to reform the "colonial administrative paradigm bequeathed to us by our erstwhile Imperial Masters".

"Governments irrespective of their political colour have been completely inept at taking any initiative in this regard," said Tewari.

However, two recommendations of the Reform Committee -- one under Morarji Desai and Veerappa Moily -- were taken up by the new committee.

The former Union Minister said the government must strongly resist any such proposal to set up a permanent Standing Committee. There is also a huge vested interest led by the bureaucracy that will go to any length to stymie any such effort, he added.