Interim Rail Tariff Authority set to be formed after Cabinet nod

Sources said that after consultations, law and railway ministries have come to the understanding that the new government, post-elections, will initiate the process of making RTA a mandatory body by amending the Railway Act, 1989 to insert a sub-section called Chapter 5 (A). This is because as per the existing law, only the Railway Board, and not any outside body, can fix tariff for railways. The amendment will legalise the mandatory powers of the RTA.

For now, a new RTA through executive order will start functioning after the selection of members. Anyone with expertise in finance and tariff-setting exercise can be eligible. Two members will be retired officials from railways with the rank of Additional Secretary or above and the others will be from other relevant fields of finance and the like.

The RTA proposal was returned by the Cabinet in October after one member described the proposal as draconian because of a clause that gave Railways the option to disagree with the RTA. Railways was then asked to consult the law ministry to fine-tune the proposal and create a final draft. Then Law Minister Kapil Sibal and Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge had held a meeting after that apart from official-level meetings.