Pramod began his career preparing briefs, appearing, and arguing civil and criminal cases at various courts, before joining the State Judicial Service in Uttar Pradesh as Civil Judge in 1987. He also served as Law Draftsman in the State Law Commission of UP and as Secretary/Registrar in Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal Delhi. By 2005, he was the Additional District and Sessions Judge. He joined the CCI as the law was first made operational in 2009, and spent over a decade in various senior positions including as Adviser of the Antitrust Division, the Legal Division, and finally, Secretary of the CCI in 2019. During his time at the CCI, he analysed antitrust cases and decided the CCI’s litigation strategy for all of its early cases before various courts and tribunals across the country, including the Supreme Court of India. He also oversaw the drafting and amending of various implementing regulations to the Competition Act, from its initial days of operationalization. As Secretary of the CCI, he was its administrative head, and oversaw every aspect of its functioning. It was in that capacity that he gave shape to several notable orders of the CCI and provided strategic input on competition law to various arms of the Government. Pramod has a keen interest and has developed a deep cross-sectoral involvement in broader questions of economic regulation and architecture. He has a unique birds-eye view of the evolving economic and regulatory landscape in India: first at the CCI and thereafter as Member (Law) for over two years at the newly created Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA) where his work involved overseeing various aspects of economic regulation involving the pension sector. As a Member, he was also tasked with quasi-judicial function of conducting hearings and adjudication proceedings and vetted several implementing regulations and the proposed amendment of the PFRDA Act, 2013. He has also been nominated to the advisory committee constituted by the PFRDA to review the rules and regulations governing the pension sector. In his free time, Pramod enjoys playing badminton, reading books, and cheering for his favourite teams across various sports.

Notable work:

• Strengthening the CCI’s Leniency Programme
• Handling key litigation for the CCI, including in SAIL v. CCI before the Competition Appellate Tribunal and the Supreme Court.