Leading economists on Thursday demanded relook into major issues of the new Competition Bill cleared by the cabinet including optional pre-notification of all mergers, reappointment of chairman and members and long dual inquiry system. Speaking at 'existing proposed competition law of India' symposium organised the National Council of Applied Economic Research in New Delhi, economists pointed out various lacunae in the draft bill and said pre-notification of all mergers was necessary, at least for maintaining the database even if all of them were not examined. Suman Bery, NCAER director general asked the participants to consider carefully the rise of misuse of the new competition law to harass the private sector, despite the best intentions of the framers of the legislation.
Citing the Microsoft case, he highlighted how anti-trust concerns had evolved from a 'concern for concentration' to 'concern for impact on innovation'.
On exemptions and exceptions, it was stressed that bill had left the matter solely on the government to notify, without proper guidelines or directions, a participant Rakesh Basant said.
It was also suggested that to prevent crack cartels, high fines and criminal liability coupled with leniency programmes for the firms and protection to the whistelblowers was sine qua non and should be reflected in the new law, a statement from an organiser, Consumer Unity and Trust Society (cuts) said. Bureau Report