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 h5 as ever.