CCI and Prasar
Bharti to get new Chiefs soon
The
Competition Commission of India (CCI) and Prasar Bharati may get new Chiefs
soon as the government has fast-tracked the procedures. If reports emanating
from North Block are any indication, both will get new heads this month end.
It is learnt
that nearly five dozen candidates were short-listed for interviews for CCI
Chairman's post. The process will be completed within the next ten days.
The term of the incumbent Chairperson Ashok Kumar Gupta, a retired IAS officer
of the 1981 batch, ending on October 25, 2022. The government decided to
advertise the post in July and sought applications from eligible candidates
which included senior bureaucrats (retired & retiring), economists, judges from
the higher judiciary and a few members currently working with the competition
watchdog. The CCI was set up in 2003 under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
It keeps a tab on anti-competitive practices across sectors in the marketplace
and also works towards promoting fair trade practices. It also approves
combinations under the act so that two merging entities do not overtake the
market. In recent times, CCI has been looking at various cases of alleged
unfair business practices, especially in the fast-growing digital space. Many
international companies are under the scanner of the CCI.
Prasar
Bharati may also get a regular CEO as Shashi Shekhar Vempati retired in June.
Later, Mayank Kumar Agrawal was given the additional charge of the CEO. The
selection committee meeting was held this week and an IAS officer may be
inducted soon as CEO. Vempati was the youngest and the first non-bureaucrat CEO
who was appointed for five years in June 2017.
