The government has proposed that the Competition Commission of India would no longer be able to imprison any party for not conforming to its orders.
The present Act, empowers the commission to impose imprisonment and fines for contravention of any order of the commission.
"If any of CCI's orders are violated, the commission would have to refer the case to the concerned court, which would recommend the necessary punishment," a government official said.
The proposal is aimed at ending the legal fracas over setting up of the commission, with the Supreme Court objecting to the fact that various provisions of the Competition Act, 2003 meant bypassing of the judiciary.
The government may also amend the clause in the Act whereby CCI's orders were to be executed through the high court.
The orders would be routed through a proper judiciary channel starting with the relevant district courts. The court was against this provision as this meant subordination of the high court to the commission.
The government also plans to scrap the position of the Member (administration), and give the chairperson of the commission all decision making powers.
The chairperson, if he desires could delegate responsibilities to other officers, the government official said. The present Act has given the Member (administration) financial and administrative responsibilities, granting him the authority to entrust other officials with these powers.
However, the court was of the view that the chairperson was the chief officer of the commission, and he should be vested with all powers including that of distributing responsibilities.
One of the issues to which the apex court had taken strong exception was appointment of a bureaucrat as a chairperson instead of a judge.
The government official said that they were still considering the option of having an appellate tribunal that could be headed by the judge while the chairperson of the commission could be a non-judicial person.
"Similar bodies in other countries like United Kingdom are headed by non-judicial persons, who are experts in the field of economics and competition related affairs," the source said.
He, however, added that the government still had not firmed its view on the issue and would be consulting all the ministries before taking a final stand.
