The Act, which has seen considerable amendments since it was passed in 2003, has been stiffly opposed by a large part of corporate India.
Even as a section of corporate India has apprehensions over its possible misuse and corruption, the central government is all set to enforce the five-year-old Competition Act.
According to a source close to the development, two new members, Geeta Gauri, an economist with the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission, and Prem Parashar, a lawyer, will join the existing three-member Competition Commission of India (CCI).
The selection for the Competition Appellate Tribunal is also going on.
“The government has sanctioned the staff requirement a few days ago and the Commission is expected to start recruitment of economists, lawyers and analysts anytime now,” said an official connected with the setting up of Commission.
With the two new members, the apparatus will now have five members, including the chairman Dhanendra Kumar, former executive director of the World Bank, who was appointed three weeks ago. With this, the Commission is likely to start its enforcement work in three months, according to the official.
The CCI was set up in 2003 and has powers to penalise companies for price fixing and cartelisation, besides reviewing mergers and acquisitions to check whether they would adversely affect competition in the sector.
After the watering down of the MRTP (the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices) Act in 1991, the Indian corporate sector has functioned without any competition regulator.
While any consumer organisation or company can lodge complaints related to price-fixing, all mergers and takeovers will have to be referred to the Commission for approval if both companies individually have turnovers in excess of Rs 600 crore in India.
The Act, which has seen considerable amendments since it was passed in 2003, has been stiffly opposed by a large part of corporate India. “The law, if implemented in the current form, will cause immense damage to the Indian industry,” Bharat Vasani, general counsel for the Tata group, said.
Vasani, speaking on the sidelines of a conference, felt that the new mechanism will push India back to the pre-liberalisation, licence quota raj, giving an edge to unscrupulous companies. “The MRTP Act successfully kept India growing at 3%. Companies that cannot ‘manage’ clearances in Delhi will have a tough time under the new set-up,” he said.
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