The Prime Minister’s Office has stepped in to sort out differences over setting up of the National Investment Board (NIB). The Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister called for a meeting of all the stakeholders.
“The meeting was called to sort out inter-ministerial differences over the constitution of the board. You may call it a preparatory meeting before the proposal is taken up for consideration by the Cabinet,” sources said.
The proposal, as floated by the Finance Ministry, envisages an Empowered Standing Committee of the Cabinet under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister. The proposed board, once approved, aims to facilitate and ensure time-bound grant of various licences, permissions and approval as a mechanism. This will be triggered in case of the failure of the concerned ministries/department to act in time to take decisions.
The proposed board is to be formed after amending the ‘Transaction of Business Rules,’ so that project above a certain size, say Rs 1,000 crore, can be cleared by the board.
The Government feels that there is no prescribed time limit, in most of the cases, for the concerned Ministry or department to decide. This is the reason for many of the large projects, both in public and private sector and especially in infrastructure, getting delayed.