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Jaswant was keen on having DCA

BS Economy & Political Bureaux

With the department of company affairs becoming a part of the finance ministry after the Cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has reversed a decision he had taken in 1998 to get J Jayalalithaa's support to form government at the Centre.

Sources said the move was initiated as the new finance and company affairs minister, Jaswant Singh, was quite keen to have the department of company affairs under his charge. Also, new law minister K Jana Krishnamurthy's lack of experience in governance also weighed in Singh's favour.

"There are certain complicated issues like competition law and insolvency norms that require thorough knowledge of the corporate law," government sources said.

The move comes at a time when the finance ministry and the ministry of law, justice and company affairs had only recently settled their differences over the grant of more powers to the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

The implication of the move is that if Sebi and DCA go after errant corporates, they will not be hamstrung by the duality of control.

The department of company affairs , which was till now attached to the parliamentary standing committee on home, will now be attached to the standing committee on finance.

It is, however, not clear if the pending Bills, like the Companies (Amendment) Bill, will remain with the standing committee on home or only the Bills that are presented by Jaswant Singh will be referred to the standing committee on finance.

Officials said many other issues, particularly those related to the 2001 stock market scam, would also now be easier to sort out. DCA was under the ministry of industry till the eighties. As a result of the changes, the new finance minister will have four secretaries reporting to him including revenue, expenditure and economic affairs.

North Block officials, however, said the work allocation of officers like the joint secretary of capital markets and the joint secretary in the department of company affairs would not be affected as their responsibilities would be different.

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