JOIN USKarnataka HC won't interfere in antitrust probe against Amazon and Flipkart
In a setback to Amazon and Flipkart, the Karnataka High Court has refused to interfere in the investigation ordered by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which had sought to ascertain whether the e-commerce majors had violated the provisions of the Competition Act 2002.
Observing that the CCI order is supported by reasoning, Justice P S Dinesh Kumar said, “Therefore, it would be unwise to prejudge the issues raised by the petitioners (Amazon and Flipkart) in these writ petitions at this stage and scuttle the investigation. Therefore, the impugned order does not call for any interference.”
The court quoted the order of the Supreme Court and held that an investigation under section 26 (1) is an ‘administrative direction’ to one of its wings departmentally and without entering upon any adjudicatory process.
The CCI had ordered an investigation under section 26 (1) of the Competition Act, 2002, by its Director General based on information by Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh, a society of MSMEs, following which Amazon and Flipkart challenged the January 13, 2020, order.
According to the informant, Amazon and Flipkart had entered into several vertical agreements with preferred sellers. The complainant sought an investigation into issues such as ‘deep discounting’, ‘preferential listing’ and ‘exclusive tie-ups’.
The companies contended that they are private limited companies and alleged that the informant had not approached with clean hands. The companies claimed that Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh is only acting as a front-man for Confederation of All India Traders Vyapar Bhawan, which filed writ petitions in High Courts of Delhi and Rajasthan and failed to get any favourable order.