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Competition
panel hangs fire
The Asian Age, November 16, 2008
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By
Dilip Cherian
THE
PACE of recruiting members for the Competition
Commission of India (CCI) had been slow since June
this year when acting chairman Vinod Dhall put in
his papers around the same time when the ministry
initiated the selection process. But now it seems
to have picked up pace again with coal secretary
Harish Chandra Gupta, corporate affairs secretary
Anurag Goyal and former chairman of the CBDT P.K.
Mishra tipped to be members. Some insiders insist
the panel will get a new chairman and full
complement of six members by November-end — only a
few days away now.
Clearly, finding Mr Dhall’s replacement is proving
to be rather challenging. Apparently the selection
committee has shortlisted two contenders — retired
senior bureaucrat Ajay Dua and Dhanendra Kumar,
executive director for India at the World Bank —
but there’s no word yet on the final choice. Mr
Dua retired last year as secretary, department of
industrial policy and promotion, Mr Kumar has been
with the World Bank since 2005 and also represents
Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka there. He has
long years of experience in finance and
infrastructure. According to insiders, Arvind
Virmani, chief economic adviser in the finance
ministry, and Pradeep Mehta, secretary-general,
CUTS International, a non-governmental
organisation that works in the area of competition
and consumer protection, had also applied for the
post but the selection committee ignored their
names.
As
matters stand all, the initial talk of luring
talent from the private sector has remained just
that. Babus’ stranglehold on plum postings remains
strong as ever.
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