India's union finance minister P. Chidambaram said on Tuesday that the regulation of prices of diesel is an executive role of the government and no parliamentary support is required to introduce changes.

He said that oil companies are owned by the government and the setting of diesel prices in the country is an executive decision that does not require a parliamentary backing. The government recently allowed oil firms to raise diesel prices gradually and bring the rtes closer to the market rates in the international markets.

The central government has hinted that it will allow state-run oil marketing companies to revise diesel rates in order to lessen losses and reduce the burden of subsidies on the government. The government also more or less deregulated diesel prices allowing small hikes in the prices. The government is set to allow a hike of 40-50 paise a litre every month.

The move will allow the government to generate sizable resources in saved subsidy costs without a serious political reappraisal in the country. Meanwhile, UPA key ally DMK also demanded that the Government reconsider its decision to allow hikes in the prices of diesel in the country.