Railways opens doors to outsider to head tariff authority

The Indian Railways is perhaps one of the last bastions where non-Railway service officers were not able to occupy top posts.

However, this is now set to change.

The Chairperson of the Rail Tariff Authority, which is slated to regulate Indian Railways, can now be from a non-Railway background, according to the new eligibility norms.

This is a departure from the present state of affairs. For instance, the Railway Board has seven Secretary-level positions, including that of the Chairman, all of which are occupied by officials from different Railway services.

The new eligibility norms also ensure the presence of two officials from the Railway service background in a regulatory body, which can have up to five members, including the Chairperson.

Here is the operative part of the norms for the Chairman’s post: “….a person shall not be appointed unless he has held the post of Secretary to the Government of India or any equivalent post.”

This makes the race for these posts — applications for which have just been invited — interesting.

The Chairperson and members are assured of a five-year tenure, until they attain the age of 65 years. The retirement age for Secretary-rank posts of all ministries, including the Railway Board, is 60 years.

While some officials see this as Railways bowing to external pressure to “hand over” a Secretary-rank post to non-Railway cadre, many other Railway officials say it is a good move as an outsider can bring in a fresh perspective to the functioning of Indian Railways.

“It is important for an outsider to be exposed to the processes and operations of this large organisation. Moreover, the views taken by a non-Railway person are likely to be seen in a more neutral perspective,” said a senior Railway official.

“Indian Railways is an asset-based organisation and requires funds to operate — not just for the creation of new assets such as trains, wagons, stations and rail tracks — but also for maintenance of the assets.

Hopefully, the regulator will take a holistic view on the state of the Railways. To that extent, it is good to have officials from non-Railway service,” said a source.