Situation vacant

Raisina Hill

 Commerce Secretary Dipak Chatterjee may be a little upset over what happened last week. But he does not wear the look of a worried man.

 Just when he was readying to relinquish his job in Udyog Bhawan and take charge as the chairman of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the Supreme Court came out with its adverse comments on the appointment of a bureaucrat as the head a quasi-judicial body. And Chatterjee decided to stay put in his current job till the stalemate is resolved.

 Chatterjee is not worried because he is due to retire only in June 2004 and the government has not named his successor in the commerce ministry. So, he need not worry, quite unlike Vinod K Dhall, who was named a member of the CCI earlier this year.

 Dhall had no such option as the government had soon named his successor, Man Mohan Kumar Sardana, to take charge as the new company affairs secretary. Dhall had to move over to an office which actually did not exist. He functioned as an officer on special duty until the government notified the constitution of the CCI last month.

 Today, Dhall is the only member of the CCI and is busy setting up the office and laying the ground work for its functioning as a body to promote competition and prevent practices that could have an adverse effect on competition. As and when Chatterjee or someone else comes to take charge as the CCI chairman, Dhall should be in a position to present a ready office.

 There is yet another reason why Chatterjee should not be worried over these developments. Already, his well-wishers in the government have floated a proposal that if Chatterjee cannot be made the CCI chairman, he should be allowed to continue in the commerce ministry and then considered for the Cabinet Secretary