CCI may soon lose adjudicating powers, authority to pass orders & penalise

The government plans to let the commission have part-time members in order to ease its workload

The government is considering taking away the adjudicating authority from the Competition Commission of India (CCI).  Essentially, this could take away the competition watchdog’s authority to pass orders and penalise those contravening the Competition Act.
 

Competition experts say this could render the commission toothless. The anti-trust regulator investigates and penalises cartels, apart from ensuring that mergers do not lead to monopoly. 

“(The move would mean) the commission would become an advisory authority only and would become redundant. Somebody will have to take this power and it may go to the corporate affairs ministry,” said R Prasad, a competition expert.

He