New Delhi: Fair trade regulator Competition Commission is grappling with acute manpower shortage as nearly 100 positions were lying vacant till March this year.
Competiton Commission of India (CCI), which is scouting for more people, has a sanctioned strength of about 197 staff.
The regulator has been grappling with significant shortage of people in the last few years. As many as 96 posts remained vacant in 2011-12 financial year (ending March 2012), slightly lower than the count of vacanies seen in the previous fiscal, according to CCI's latest annual report.
These include shortage of staff at the Director General (DG) office, investigative arm of the fair trade regulator.
In 2010-11, there were about 100 vacancies and one year down the line, the number came down to only 96.
"... 187 posts were sanctioned by the Government of India vide Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) order dated 20 January, 2009, in lieu of the posts sanctioned earlier," CCI's annual report for 2010-11 showed.
These include one Secretary, one Director General and 122 posts of professionals and 63 posts of support staff.
In addition, MCA had sanctioned 10 posts of support staff, the 2010-11 report said.
Meanwhile, CCI's expenditure climbed over 14 per cent in the last fiscal to nearly Rs 36.61 crore. In the year-ago period, the same was about Rs 32 crore.
Last fiscal, the maximum spending was incurred towards salaries of CCI employees that recorded an expenditure of Rs 12.86 crore.
During 2011-12, MCA provided Rs 37.92 crore to the fair trade regulator. The budget allocated excludes receipts from fees under the Competition Act and the interest accrued.
The amount was nearly 15 per cent higher than the allocation of Rs 33 crore made in 2010-11.
Budgetary support to CCI is given by the government of India in the form of "Grants in Aid" through MCA.
"The balance available in the Competition fund as on March 31, 2012 was Rs 6.65 crore on account of carry forward grants and Rs 3.15 crore on account of accumulated fee and interest," the 2011-12 annual report said.
CCI has the mandate to eliminate practices that have adverse impact on competition and protect the interests of consumers. Some of the major orders passed by CCI in the recent past include those against cement companies on charges of cartelisation.