Regulatory

🎯 How This Word Works in UPSC Writing

Pertaining to the making, monitoring and enforcement of rules for a sector. The independent regulator is a distinct institutional form and its rationale is worth stating: where a sector needs continuous technical supervision, rule-making faster than legislation permits, and decisions insulated from both political and commercial pressure, a specialised body is created holding a combination of powers that would ordinarily be kept apart, since a regulator legislates by framing regulations, executes by licensing and monitoring, and adjudicates disputes between parties. That concentration is precisely why the appointment process and the appellate mechanism matter so much. The standing failure modes are regulatory capture, in which the body comes to serve the industry it supervises; overlapping jurisdiction between a sector regulator and the competition authority; and the accountability question of who supervises an institution deliberately insulated from ministerial control.