Four months after the previous chairperson retired and seven months after the search for his successor started, it still doesn’t have a chairwoman.The approval of mergers and acquisitions was halted by the vacancies for several months before it was revealed that reliance on a necessity-driven legal concept permitted the process to resume in early February. Enforcement cases that need to be decided are still pending.
This crisis is unprecedented and Avantika Kakkar, head of the competition law practice at the Mumbai-based Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas legal firm, described the incident as a first-time event.
Source: Business StandardMore than a thousand combination cases have been completed by the CCI, indicating an increasing workload. One of the newest antitrust authorities in the world, CCI has taken action against cartels ranging from beer to cement, deterred gun jumping and bid rigging, and most recently punished Google twice.Data compiled from annual reports show that the commission had a staffing problem even before it lost quorum, with at least 30% of jobs remaining empty during the previous ten years.
Source: Rahul ThakwaniAccording to Pradeep Mehta, secretary general of the advocacy group CUTS Institute for Regulation & Competition, the CCI has had a resource shortage since its formation, and the present open positions have all but halted the country’s efforts to regulate competition.
What do you think about this? Share your views in the comments below
