NEW DELHI, March 26: Disinvestment Commission chairman G V Ramakrishna has urged the government to restore the powers of the panel and de-bureaucratise the disinvestment process to permit the commission to play an effective role in the sale of shares of state enterprises.Among other things, his specific recommendation in the seventh report include setting up of an implementation machinery under the overall supervision of the commission to undertake sale of PSU shares. "The role of the panel as an advisory body without powers of monitoring and supervision of the overall disinvestment process renders the Commission ineffective, " Ramakrishna said.The government through an amendment in January 1998 limited the role of the commission to an advisory body without powers of monitoring and supervision as envisaged in the original notification of August 1996.The Commission chairman also urged that the all the recommendations should be placed before the Cabinet for decision, and if needed the chairman beinvited to Cabinet meetings to offer clarifications. He stressed that, "both general and specific recommendations of the Commission should not be filtered by official groups but should be placed before the Cabinet in their entirety". The other important recommendation was that the government should set up a full time implementation machinery under the ministry of finance including public sector merchant bankers with a clear mandate to select financial advisers and put through the sale of shares. Ramakrishna also wanted the implementation group to seek the Commission's advice and be subject to the overall supervision of the panel.
