Industrialist Anil Ambani today said his telecom investments have suffered due to an indecisive bureaucracy and asked Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to have a system that protects officials from investigative agencies for faster decision-making.

“Being a large investor in mobile, we’ve faced over the last many years a number of obstacles in decision-making where speed of decision-making has been very poor,” Ambani said at the ‘Mumbai Next’ event organised here by the Maharashtra Government.

“I think you will have to come up with a system whereby decision-making and speed of decision-making is valued, officials and team players are protected from CVC, CBI and CAG,” he said, clarifying that he is not asking for non-transparent decision-making.

Ambani cited his interactions with Government officials, saying that quick decision-making usually “raises eyebrows” and brings them under the scanner of agencies such as the CBI, CVC and CAG.

Ambani quoted Government officials as saying that “the best thing for us to do is not to take decisions because then we’re protected”.

Ambani said the Coal Ordinance introduced by the Centre insulates officials taking decisions in the upcoming auctions from scrutiny from the feared law enforcing agencies.

“You’ll see the recent Coal Ordinance where all officials who are involved in the coal auction process have been protected from any further legal and criminal scrutiny in future,” he said.

Replying to the comments, Fadnavis promised full help, saying he will “ring fence” the officials.

“I feel if the initial processes are transparent, then if you take a quick decision, it cannot be questioned. Its only at the time of initial decision-making if you start to pick and choose, then finally you end up in a soup,” the CM said.

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