Govt appoints Ravneet Kaur as CCI Chairperson
New Delhi, May 16: Ravneet Kaur will take over as the first full-time woman Chairperson of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), a post that has been lying vacant since October last year.
Kaur, a 1988 Punjab cadre IAS officer, will be the fifth full-time Chairperson of the fair trade regulator, which started functioning in 2009.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of 59-year-old Kaur, according to an official order dated May 15.
There has been no full-time Chairperson for the competition regulator since Ashok Kumar Gupta demitted office in October 2022. CCI Member Sangeeta Verma has been acting as the Chairperson since October last year.
Currently, Kaur is serving as the Special Chief Secretary at Cooperation Department in Punjab government. She has also served in various other roles in the state.
Kaur has worked at the Centre from 2006 to 2012, including as Joint Secretary in the Department of Financial Services and again during 2015-2019 period.
She served as the Chairman and Managing Director of the India Tourism Development Corporation from July 2017 to July 2019.
The appointment of Kaur will be for a period of five years from the date of assuming charge or till the date of attaining the age of 65 years or until further orders, whichever is the earliest, as per the order.
The Chairperson will get a consolidated salary of Rs 4,50,000 per month without house and car, it added.
Kaur will be taking over the reins of the CCI at a time when various cases related to digital space, including those pertaining to Google and Apple, are being pursued by the regulator.
Also, the watchdog, last week, opened an inquiry against Google for alleged non-compliance with its order passed in October 2022 in relation to its Play Store policies.
Meanwhile, various amendments have been made to the competition law recently.
The amendments seek to promote the ease of doing business as well as enhance the framework to deter entities from indulging in unfair business practices.
Dhanendra Kumar was the first full-time Chairperson of the CCI and the three others were Ashok Chawla, D K Sikri and Ashok Kumar Gupta.
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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
