INTRODUCTION:
Sec.17 (3) of the Competition Act, 2002 ('Act' for short) provides that the Commission may engage, in accordance with the procedure of the regulations, such number of experts and professionals of integrity and outstanding ability, who have special knowledge of, and experience in, economics, law, business or such other disciplines related to competition, as it deems necessary to assist the Commission in the discharge of its functions under this Act. Sec. 64 (2) (d) of the Act gives power to the Central Government, by Notification, make regulations consistent with the Act for the procedures to be followed for engaging the experts and professionals. By virtue of the said power the Competition Commission of India made 'The Competition Commission of India (Procedure for Engagement of Experts and Professionals) Regulations, 2009 ('Regulations' for short) vide Notification No. R-40007/6/Reg-Expert/Noti/04-CCI, dated 15.05.2009.
ENGAGEMENT OF EXPERTS AND PROFESSIONALS:
Meaning:
Regulation 2(1)(e) defines the term 'expert or professional' as a person of integrity and outstanding ability having special knowledge of, and experience in economics, law, business or such other discipline related to the competition as the Commission deems necessary to assist it in discharge of its functions under the Act.
Qualifications, experience and classification:
The experts and professionals to be engaged shall be classified on the basis of their qualifications and experience in the respective fields of specialization and/or the eminence in their professionals. The following are the classes of expert and professionals:
Economist;
Law;
Chartered Accountant;
Cost Accountant;
Company Secretary;
Business Management;
International Trade;
Engineering;
Medical;
Sciences;
Any other sector.
The Commission may also engage experts and professionals from any other discipline as deemed necessary to assist the Commission.
Subject to these regulations and depending upon the qualification, specialization and experience in respective disciplines the experts shall be categorized into five levels as give below:
Level I - Experience up to three years;
Level II - Experience three to five years;
Level III - Experience five to ten years;
Level IV - Experience ten to fifteen years;
Level V - Fifteen years or more.
PROCEDURE OF SELECTION:
The Commission may engage such number of experts and professionals in the fields of economics, law, business or such other disciplines related to competition, as it may deem fit. The procedure of selection of experts and professionals are dealt with by Regulation 8 as detailed below:
The experts and professionals shall ordinarily be engaged by the Commission on contractual basis for not less than three months and not more than three years;
The Commission may decide, from time to time, the number of the experts and professionals to be engaged;
The Secretary of the Commission shall publish the number of the experts and professionals to be engaged with details of qualifications, experience needed and remuneration payable on the official website of the Commission and invite applications for each category and level of expert and professional giving a stipulated last date for the receipt of the applications for each category and level. The Secretary may also invite the applications by suitable public notice, for each category and level of expert and professional;
The Commission shall constitute a selection board for each category of expert and professional. The Commission may invite the eminent experts having special knowledge and experience in the relevant field to join the selection boards;
The Secretary shall scrutinize the applications in accordance with these regulations and prepare lists of eligible candidates for each category to be called for interview and submit a report to the Commission;
The selection boards shall be convened with the approval of the Chairperson for each category and the Secretary shall notify the date and the venue of the interview to the short listed eligible candidates sufficiently in advance;
The recommendations of each selection board regarding engagement for each category shall be placed by the Secretary before the Commission for decision;
On approval of the engagements by the Commission, the Secretary shall inform each candidate in writing by an offer letter of engagement giving not less than ten days time to accept the offer of engagement;
After receipt of acceptance from the selected candidates the Secretary shall issue letter of engagement to each candidate giving not less than thirty five days time to join. The jointing time may be extended by the Secretary on being satisfied that extension is sought on circumstances beyond the control of the individual candidate;
The Secretary shall inform the number of selected candidates who have joined in the next meeting of the Commission and obtain approval of the Commission to restart the process of selection to fill up the shortfalls, if any, in the total number of experts and professionals decided to be engaged.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
The terms and conditions for the appointment of experts and professionals are dealt with by Regulation 9 as follows:
The expert and professionals on having accepted the offer of engagement, shall enter into a contract, also having the confidentiality clause, with the Secretary, acting on behalf of the Commission, detailing the terms and conditions of engagement, before being assigned the work;
The terms and conditions of engagement may be modified, in a specific case, where the Commission deems it necessary;
Without prejudice and in addition to the legal remedies available to the Commission, the breach of agreement executed by or on behalf of any expert or professional shall be considered a sufficient ground for termination of the engagement made under contract and may further debar such expert or professional from future engagement by the Commission.
REMUNERATION:
The monthly remuneration to be paid by the Commission to different categories of experts and professionals shall be as follows:
Level I - Rs.30,000/- with 10% increase on completion of each year;
Level II - Rs.50,000/- with 10% increase on completion of each year;
Level III - Rs.75,000/- with 10% increase on completion of each year;
Level IV - Rs.1,00,000/- with 10% increase on completion of each year;
Level V - Rs.1,25,000/- with 10% increase on completion of each year.
The Commission may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, agree to pay higher remuneration than those given above in specially deserving cases.
EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE:
The performance of each expert and professional engaged under these regulations, with reference to the tasks assigned and output delivered, shall be reviewed periodically, within such time and manner, as may be specified by the Commission.
POWER TO RELAX:
The Commission may relax such restrictions imposed in these regulations as may be deemed necessary in the discharge of its functions under the Act.
