Panel to review Competition Act

The Centre has constituted a panel to review the Competition Act as part of its objective of ensuring that legislation is in sync with the needs of strong economic fundamentals.

The committee would review the need to amend “the Competition Act/ Rules/ Regulations, in view of changing business environment.”

The nine- member committee chaired by corporate affairs secretary Injeti Srinivas includes Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India ( IBBI) chairperson M. S. Sahoo and CCI chairperson.

At present, Sudhir Mittal is the acting chairperson of CCI.

The committee would also look into international best practices in the competition fields, especially anti- trust laws, merger guidelines and handling cross border competition issues.

Further, it would study “the regulatory regimes/ institutional mechanisms/ government policies which overlap with the Competition Act,” said a government statement.

The committee would submit its report within three months from the date of its first meeting.

Khaitan & Co’s Haigreve Khaitan, IKDHVAJ Advisers LLP’s Harsha Vardhana Singh and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co’s Pallavi Shardul Shroff are among the panel members.

Other members are S. Chakravarthy, Hony. visiting professor at ASCII, Aditya Bhattacharjea, economics professor at Delhi School of Economics and joint secretary ( competition) from the corporate affairs ministry.

The Competition Act was passed in 2002 and CCI “started functioning in right earnest in 2009,” the release said.

In an unrelated development, the government is also planning to put in place a stricter disclosure framework for independent directors as part of efforts to bolster corporate governance.