The Centre on Wednesday approved the extension of the term of CCI’s Director General (DG) Atul Verma by three months. The DG is the independent investigation arm of the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

On the last day of Verma’s present tenure, the Corporate Affairs Ministry (MCA) issued a notification extending his deputation tenure by three months. 

It maybe recalled that Verma, a 1991 batch IPS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre, was appointed as DG at CCI in June 2020 for three years.

During his tenure as DG, Verma has handled several high profile investigations against Big Tech, including Google, Apple and Amazon besides conducting dawn raids in several industries. 

This extension also comes at a time when several cases against big tech such as Google, Zomato, Swiggy are nearing completion of investigation.

Presently, the power to appoint DG lies with MCA and the recent amendments to Competition Act had transferred this power to CCI. 

However, the MCA has till date withheld notification of this key provision, thereby retaining the power within the Ministry itself as regards appointment of the new DG.

Earlier, the President Droupadi Murmu had given her assent to the Competition Amendment Act 2023 on April 11. After this, MCA has till date notified a number of provisions even while withholding implementation of several others.

While notifying certain provisions of the Competition Amendment Act 2023 on May 18, the MCA also suspended the provisions that entailed higher penalties for upon big tech companies engaging in anti-competirive behaviour. As per the amendments, the CCI can now impose penalty on companies based on their global turnover generated  from all products and services. As of now, CCI can levy penalty only  upon “relevant turnover” as per a Supreme Court ruling in  Excel Crop case . The ruling now stands overturned in light of the amendments.

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