Even after three months of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) coming into force, its predecessor, the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) is continuing to accept fresh cases on a daily basis. Complainants are continuing to show a preference for MRTPC to the CCI, which is a costlier option for the common man and follows a detailed process of accepting complaints. In two months, MRTPC may stop accepting new complaints, but will adjudicate on all petitions received till then, senior government officials told. MRTPC was supposed to stop accepting fresh complaints once the CCI is operationalised, but has not turned a blind eye to new complaints.
This has been possible as the government has not notified a provision in the Competition Act which will outrightly restrict MRTPC from registering new cases coming before it, a government official said on the condition of anonymity. The ministry of corporate affairs, which is the administrative ministry for the functioning of both the CCI and MRTPC, is likely to restrict the latter from taking fresh matters in a couple of months, the official added. Till then, citizens willing to register their complaints for anti-competitive activities in companies can approach any of these two forums, he said.
As the procedural formalities in CCI are more detailed and involves a cost for filing a complaint, the influx of fresh complaints in MRTPC is continuing. According to the official, the MRTPC is adding over 30 cases every month over its overall pendency of over 2,000 cases. The number of cases in CCI, on the other hand, has been quite low with only two cases being taken up for further investigations till date.
CCI charges Rs 50,000 as a fee while accepting a petition. Experts say this is particularly because CCI is a platform where big corporate houses can file complaints against the behaviour of their rivals. Also, it is not prudent to over burden the new regulator with frivolous cases.
The lack of staff and resources at MRTPC is affecting its investigation and adjudication in many cases that are already pending before it. While the MRTPC is investigating many cases of alleged anti-competitive practices in sectors like aviation, telecom and cement, what the forum lacks is the regulatory teeth to impose a heavy fine. While the functional ambit of the CCI is much wider than that of the MRTPC, they share common area of operation in matters of monopolistic activities indulged into by companies.
India’s anti-trust body CCI will look into all competition related aspects affecting mergers, market share and presence of dominant entities and regulation of firms. The government has not yet empowered CCI to take up cases of merger, and is by far looking into cases against companies indulging in anti-competitive practices and abusing their dominance in the market.
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