The government?s move to name former finance secretary Ashok Chawla as the chairman of the Competition Commission of India is facing resistance from two senior members of the anti-trust watchdog. CCI members HC Gupta and Anurag Goel are learnt to have informed the corporate affairs ministry of their discomfort over Chawla becoming the chairman as it would let pass their seniority. The two officials have indicated that they could even quit if their word is not heeded, a top government source confirmed to FE.
If Chawla is made the chairman, it would mean that Gupta and Goel who were from the 1971 and 1972 batches of the IAS, respectively, would have to report to Chawla who belonged to 1973 batch. All of them are retired from the IAS.
As is required under the Competition Act, a committee headed by a supreme court judge had selected Chawla for the post of CCI chairman. Both Goel and Gupta were contenders for the post. The ministry of corporate affairs has fowarded the selection committee’s recommendation to the Appointments Committee of Cabinet for final approval. On June 5, the first chairman of the commission, Dhanendra Kumar demitted office on completion of 65 years of age.
Gupta declined to comment while Goel acknowledged that he and Gupta were senior to Chawla but denied approaching the government on the matter. A top MCA official told FE on condition of anonymity : ?The matter has come to us but we can?t do much about it.? Other senior bureaucrats closely associated with the commission declined to comment.
According to government sources, Chawla, Goel and former secretary in the environment and forest ministry, Vijay Sharma were the three who were the frontrunners for the chairman’s post. What tipped the balance in favour of Chawla out of the 65 applicants was his stature as the former finance secretary. It was also felt that since the commission was grappling with issues like regulatory overlap, it required an able and experienced bureaucrat to guide the ship.Chawla, who belonged to the Gujarat cadre while in IAS, also had a stint as civil aviation secretary.
After Kumar stepped down from office, the senior most member of the commission, HC Gupta was nominated as the acting chairman of CCI. He is from the Uttar Pradesh cadre and a former coal secretary. Gupta was the first member to be appointed in the commission on February 28, 2009 and is set to retire on November 24, 2013.
Anurag Goel also has a good record to his credit both as a member of the commission and former secretary of the corporate affairs ministry. He was appointed as a member to CCI on September 2, 2009 and is set to retire on September 1, 2014. The other senior members of the commission include former chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes, R Prasad and former member of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal PN Parashar.
Secretary-general of CUTS Institute, Pradeep Mehta who was also running for the chairmanship of the commission in 2005 said that since the members are appointed post-retirement the principle of seniority should cease to exist. According to him, Indian competition regulator must adopt the Indonesian system where the chairmanship of the competition agency KPPU is rotated among the members.
According to a Right to Information application accessed by FE, the members draw a monthly salary of R2.5 lakh while the chairman of the commission draws a monthly salary of R3 lakh. At present, the commission has over 100 officers apart from an additional 169 outsourced staff. In March 2011 the total expense accrued by the commission for the payment of salaries to all its officers and staff stood at R1.09 crore.
As per the Competition Act 2002, the chairperson and other members of the commission are selected by a committee that is headed by a Supreme Court judge. The committee has four members which includes secretaries of law and corporate affairs ministry. The chairperson and members would hold office as such for a term of five years from the date on which they enter the office and is eligible for re-appointment until and unless they have already attained the age of 65. The Act is however silent on the specific criteria that the chairperson and members would require. It merely states that the candidate must be of ?ability, integrity and standing and who has special knowledge of, and such professional experience of not less than fifteen years in, international trade, economics, business, commerce, law, finance, accountancy, management, industry, public affairs or competition matters, including competition law and policy, which in the opinion of the Central Government, may be useful to the Commission?.