The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is set to name the next Director General (Investigation) (DG) of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) out of a panel of three recommended names finalized by a Selection Committee headed by Chairperson CCI. The DG is the independent investigation arm of the CCI.

The Competition (amendment) Act 2023, which received Presidential assent on April 11 this year, transferred the power of appointment of DG to CCI from the Central Government.

However, through the Rules,  the Centre continues to retain a dominant say in the appointment process of the DG with the composition of the Selection Committee skewed in favour of MCA as it comprises of CCI Chairperson, one official from MCA, and one expert to be appointed by MCA. 

Before the amendments, the DG was appointed by the Centre and was accountable directly to the Central Government and not to the CCI.

Atul Verma, a 1991 batch IPS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre and serving as the current DG (investigation), was relieved of his duties on Saturday and repatriated back to cadre, sources said.

During his tenure as DG, Verma handled several high-profile investigations against Big Tech, including Google, Apple and Amazon, besides conducting dawn raids in several industries. 

Last week, interviews were conducted for the DG (Investigation) post. Around ten candidates appeared for the interview, and the Selection Committee, headed by the CCI Chairperson Ravneet Kaur, shortlisted three candidates. 

An Indian Revenue Service officer is tipped to be appointed as the next Director General (Investigation), as per government sources. The file for the appointment is now with MCA for obtaining its prior approval, it is learnt.

The Central government was represented in the Selection Committee by Manoj Pandey, Joint Secretary (looking after the Competition Section), MCA. Also, M.S. Sahoo, currently a Distinguished Professor at National Law University Delhi and former IBBI Chairperson, was on the Panel as an expert.

Verma, who was appointed DG in June 2020 for three years, had twice got a deputation tenure extension, the first in May this year for a three-month period till the end of August 2023 and another three months till the end of November 2023.

Earlier, in July this year, the CCI had invited applications from Central and State government officers for the post of Director-General (Investigation) on deputation. The last date for submitting applications was September 15.

Before inviting applications, the Centre modified the recruitment rules —Competition Commission of India (Director-General) Recruitment Rules, 2009 — to alter the composition of the selection committee for the appointment of the DG. Earlier, the selection committee was headed by the Secretary, MCA, and now the Panel is headed by Chairperson CCI.

It may be recalled that the proposal to vest the power to appoint DG with the CCI had created a lot of chatter in legal circles, with some experts contending that the move could impact the arms-length functioning of the DG.

Some legal experts even felt this proposal in the Bill may compromise the independence of investigation and may not pass muster in judicial review, if challenged.

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