Private sector should be brought under RTI: SCOPE chief

Business Standard: New Delhi: Thursday, April 17, 2014.

Private sector companies should be brought under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, Chairman of Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) C S Verma today said.

"RTI is a good thing as it ensures transparency. The private sector should also be brought under RTI," Verma, who is also the head of SAIL and NMDC, said at a programme here.

"Why don't we bring the private sector into it?" he asked.

The RTI Act empowers a citizen to seek access to information that is of public interest. The purview of the Act is now confined to ministries and government entities with some exceptions.

SCOPE is the apex body of central government owned enterprises.

Verma also pitched for setting up of a holding company on the lines of Singapore's Temasek to give autonomy and better management of state-owned firms.

By virtue of the government owning a substantial stake in public sector undertakings, the administrative ministries appoint bureaucrats to the boards of these companies.

In the Temasek model, the government's stake would be transferred to a holding company, thereby not requiring the appointment of bureaucrats, who are often accused of interfering in the day-to-day functioning of PSUs.