Do you advocate private ownership and management of public utility undertakings? If so, why.

According to me, private firms should not be given the right to manage public utility undertakings. Public utilities may charge higher prices from public by taking undue advantage of monopoly position. Functioning of public utilities should be regulated and controlled so that they do not misuse their monopolistic position, Their functioning should be regulated by Central or State Governments or even local authorities. Government control will ensure quality and regularity in supply of goods and services, help in fixing prices reasonably in the interest of the public and assure proper maintenance of equipment and machinery with a view to avoid breakdowns and prevent inconvenience to the public.

Government control and regulates public utilities in many ways. It is essential for private promoters of public utilities to get a license from the government because it helps in stipulating the controlling powers of the government. Government frames the rates so that the utilities adopt its policies in the public interest. it has the power to nationalize those utilities which are run private undertakings and manage or regulate them with the help of public corporations or boards that have adequate representation of public.

Government prefers to set up public utilities as departmental undertaking of government directly so that government can control the utilities directly. If utilities are run by government, the ownership and management of such utilities lie in the hands of the corporation and its governing board. Under special legislature act, large utilities are organized as statutory corporations.