Mrtpc Seeks To Clip Dgirs Powers

The move comes just two days after the DGIR moved the Supreme Court, challenging the commission's right of jurisdiction over the directorate general.

The commission had earlier restrained the DGIR from pursuing its criminal case against 17 directors of the Telco board, including Ratan Tata and Nani Palkhivala, for "knowingly and willfully" not supplying the information sought by the directorate. It was against this decision that the directorate had moved the Supreme Court.

The commission has requested the ministry to amend the MRTP Act by withdrawing Section 11(ii), which confers on the DGIR powers to carry out suo moto investigations against any company or person. It has also sought to restrain the DGIR from adjudicating cases without referring them to the commission.

 

A senior MRTPC official says the section makes the DGIR accountable to neither the department of company affairs, under which it functions, nor to the commission.