Govt receives 50 applications for the post of chairperson of CCI

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has received 50 applications for the post of the chairperson of the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

The applicants include several current and former bureaucrats from the states and the Centre, sources said.

Some of the contenders for the high-profile role of the competition watchdog, include former DIPAM secretary Neeraj Gupta, former commerce secretary Rita Teotia, Expenditure Secretary Ajay Narayan Jha and tribal affairs secretary Leena Nair, Business Standard has learnt. Some senior railway officials and additional chief secretaries from different states are also in contention.

D K Sikri’s tenure as the chief of India’s competition watchdog ended in July. Sudhir Mittal, a member of CCI, is the acting chairman at the commission till Sikri’s successor is appointed. Sikri became the CCI chief in 2016. Penalty in Google case was one of the most important cases during Sikri’s tenure as chief.

CCI is an anti-competition watchdog that investigates cartels in government tenders or in private companies and was constituted following the Competition Act, which came into effect in 2002. The Act, which was subsequently amended in 2007, follows the philosophy of modern competition laws. 

The Act investigates companies and government departments for cartels.