CCI chief says state interference for vested interests unwelcome

Continued interference by the state to protect “vested interests” is undesirable and compromises efficiency of a regulator whose independence requires a high degree of political and judicial maturity, Chairman of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), Ashok Chawla, said on Monday. 

“Continued interference by the state compromises the efficiency enhancement role of the regulator. For an independent regulator to deliver, state actors have to forbear.

Intervention to promote public policy or redistribution objectives is to some extent understandable. However, interference to protect vested interests is  undesirable,” Chawla said at the 95th Assocham Foundation Day Lecture here.

He said that creation and sustenance of independent regulatory institutions require a high degree of political and judicial maturity. “We are slowly moving in that direction. But it cannot happen in a day.”

To a question about whether some of the regulators were going overboard, the CCI Chairman said, “I substantially agree... some of the new regulators with new-found zeal tend to become policemen.” He said that the regulators need to be balanced. He also agreed that “maybe we are overdoing in terms of regulation”.

He said that the existing statutory and institutional framework suggests the absence of a common regulatory philosophy.