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Competition Commission soon

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi: Union Minister for Corporate Affairs. P.C. Gupta on Tuesday said the Competition Commission of India (CCI) would become fully operational in the second half of the current calendar year.

Speaking at the first International Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility here, he said the department had completed the consultation process and within a week an expert group would be constituted to select the members of the commission under the chairmanship of Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan.

The government had recommended the names of economist Nitish Sengupta and the Secretary, Department of Company Affairs, as members. The selection of other members would be completed in four months. “The day the Competition Commission is fully operationalised, it would commence its constitutional work of regulating fraudulent practices in the corporate sector and the MRTP Act would stop looking into corporate affairs.”

On the Companies Amendment Bill, said it would be passed in the coming Budget session as all necessary consultation work was over.

Mr. Gupta hoped that with the new Companies Act in place, corporate social responsibility (CSR) would be taken seriously by all corporates and become a closely integrated activity in the entire corporate sector.

The Minister also hoped that the CSR initiatives such as developing a new Company’s Bill, introducing Limited Liability Partnership Law, operationalising of the Competition Act and notifying the Accounting Standards would create a good corporate atmosphere for further intensifying the campaign.

The former President, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, called upon industry to adopt the CSR with a spirit of profit with integrity, create employment opportunities, prudently manage their demand supply management for energy consumption and take initiatives to harness solar, nuclear and bio-fuel energy.

The identified initiatives would lead to economic prosperity and make ‘one India,’ besides removing the dividing line between the urban and rural India.

Venture philanthropy

India Inc. should also invest in venture philanthropy to educate the rural poor and provide them healthcare, basic sanitation facilities and from employment, he said.

Ambassador of Royal Netherlands Bob Hiensch, Ambassador of European Commission Daniele Samadja and President-elect of Assocham Sajjan Jindal were among others who spoke.

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