Former
Gujarat cadre IAS officer Devender Kumar Sikri has been appointed as the
Chairman of fair-trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI). He will
succeed Ashok Chawla as the Chairman of Competition Commission of India (CCI).
Chawla was appointed as the Chairman of Competition Commission of India (CCI)
on October 20, 2011. His tenure as Chairman of CCI has ended in January 2016.
Before
this appointment Sikri has served with many capacities like Secretary in
Ministry of Women and Child development, Registrar General of Census, retired
as Secretary in Department of Justice under Ministry of Law and Justice.
CCI
consists of a Chairperson and 6 Members appointed by the Central Government.
About Competition Commission of India
1. The
Competition Commission of India (CCI) was established in March 2009.
2. The objective of CCI is to play an overarching role as a market regulator across all sectors with the focus on anti-competitive behaviour of enterprises that may distort competition.
3. Effectively carry out competition advocacy and spread the information on benefits of competition among all stakeholders to establish and nurture competition culture in Indian economy.
4. The CCI oversees the implementation of the Competition Act, 2002, as amended by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2007.
5. The Competition (Amendment) Act, 2007 prohibits anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position by enterprises and regulates combinations (acquisition, acquiring of control and M&A), which causes or likely to cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition within India.
2. The objective of CCI is to play an overarching role as a market regulator across all sectors with the focus on anti-competitive behaviour of enterprises that may distort competition.
3. Effectively carry out competition advocacy and spread the information on benefits of competition among all stakeholders to establish and nurture competition culture in Indian economy.
4. The CCI oversees the implementation of the Competition Act, 2002, as amended by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2007.
5. The Competition (Amendment) Act, 2007 prohibits anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position by enterprises and regulates combinations (acquisition, acquiring of control and M&A), which causes or likely to cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition within India.
Notable decisions by CCI
1. In
December 2010, CCI instituted a probe to examine if there was any cartelisation
among traders when onion prices touched 80 rupees, but did not find sufficient
evidence of market manipulation.
2. In
June 2012, CCI imposed a fine of ₹63.07 billion (US$940
million) 11 cement companies for cartelisation. CCI claimed that cement
companies met regularly to fix prices, control market share and hold back
supply which earned them illegal profits.
3. In
January 2013, CCI modified clauses in agreements between real estate company
DLF Limited and apartment buyers.
4. On
8 February 2013, CCI imposed a penalty of ₹522 million (US$7.8 million) on the
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for misusing its dominant
position. The CCI found that IPL team ownership agreements were unfair and
discriminatory, and that the terms of the IPL franchise agreements
were loaded in favour of BCCI and franchises had no say in the terms of the
contract.
5. In
2014, CCI imposed a fine of Rs. 1 Crore upon Google for failure to comply with
the directions given by the Director General (DG) seeking information and
documents.
6. On
17th November 2015, CCI imposed a fine of INR 258 crore upon Three Airlines.
Competition Commission of India (CCI) had penalised the three airlines for
cartelisation in determining the fuel surcharge on air cargo. A penalty of Rs
151.69 crore was imposed on Jet Airways, while that on InterGlobe Aviation
(Indigo) and SpiceJet are Rs 63.74 crore and Rs 42.48 crore, respectively.