The Hindu Business Line : Confusion over competition panel chief

According to official sources, "A decision on whether Mr Chatterji would remain as chief of CCI has to be taken up by the reconstituted selection committee, as and when it is set up."

In order to eliminate the stand off between the Centre and the judiciary on the implementation of the Competition Act, the Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by the Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, in September decided to reconstitute the selection committee for appointment of members and the chairman of the Commission.

According to Finance Ministry sources, the judiciary is likely to be given an upper hand in the selection committee by way of having more representation.

The GoM was asked to study the proposed amendments to the Competition Act. The amendments were proposed in the wake of a petition challenging the appointment of a bureaucrat to head the Commission. The Government had appointed the Commerce Secretary, Mr Dipak Chatterji, as the Chairman, and former Secretary of Department of Company Affairs, Mr Vinod Dhall, as Member (Administration) of the Commission.

When asked what were the other changes being brought into the Competition Act, sources said, "Besides the changes proposed by the Supreme Court, the Act may also undergo certain structural changes, which would help in bringing out the functions of the CCI under three different categories namely — regulatory functions, adjudicatory functions and other functions."

Further, all the contentious issues identified so far would be addressed, they added. The Ministry is hoping to introduce the Amendment Bill during the ongoing Budget session of Parliament.

It may be recalled that in January this year the Supreme Court had allowed the Centre to bring in amendment to the Competition Act as suggested by it that the chairperson of the CCI would be an expert and not a judge. However, the chief of an appellate tribunal would be a judicial person.

The Centre had in its proposals before the apex court had submitted that apart from the chairperson, the CCI would have a maximum of six members. The appellate tribunal to be headed by a sitting or retired judge would be set up to hear appeals against the orders of the CCI. Further, the Centre had also agreed to amend the controversial provisionrelating to execution of the CCI orders by the High Courts by substituting High Courts with civil courts.

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Confusion over competition panel chief