The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ordered a probe into Mrs India Inc, which holds beauty pageants for married women, for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the relevant market and slapping “onerous” terms and conditions on participants in violation of antitrust rules.In an order on Tuesday, the regulator, having found a prima facie case of violations of various Competition Act provisions, asked its director general for investigation to probe the matter and file a report in 90 days.The complainant, a runner-up of Mrs India Inc’s “Mrs India” beauty pageant, has accused the organiser of making her sign agreements allegedly containing unconscionable terms and restricting her career progression through various terms and conditions contained in such pacts.The organiser, she alleged, also made her pay a significant amount without prior intimation in this regard, and restricted winners from participating in competing beauty pageants or related professional activities for up to five years.Mrs India Inc, a sole proprietorship firm, holds exclusive license of the world’s leading and oldest international beauty pageants, including Mrs World, Mrs Globe, Mrs Earth, Mrs Galaxy and Mrs International Summit, as per the order.It’s evident from a bare reading of the impugned agreements Mrs India Inc made its participants and winners sign, “that the same contain certain onerous terms”, the CCI said in the order.These include the condition that winners and runners-up up to 25th position will be bound by the terms and conditions of the agreements for a period of five years which will be considered as “cooling off period”. Similarly, the organiser bars the participants and the winners from participating in any other beauty pageant as a participant,Consultant, judge, mentor, founder or co-founder for five years, among other conditions.While asking its director general to probe, the regulator also said: “Nothing stated in this order shall tantamount to a final expression of opinion on the merits of the case and the DG shall conduct the investigation without being swayed in any manner whatsoever by the observations made herein.”Separately, in a statement, the CCI said it has approved the proposed combination relating to the restructuring of UPL group of companies and others.