Apex Court Dismisses CCI’s Plea Against Flipkart, Amazon’s Anti-Competitive Probe
27 October, 2020
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear the Competition watchdog CCI’s plea, which sought directions to vacate a stay order issued by the Karnataka high court on its investigation against Flipkart and Amazon. On January 13, traders’ body and CCI had jointly ordered a probe against the two companies over alleged anti-competitive practices.
The apex court has directed the case back to Karnataka High Court and asked it to decide on the matter within six weeks. The apex court will step into the case if the decision is not made in that time frame.
Traders bodies, including the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh (DVM), have been accusing the two companies of anti-competitive practices like offering deep discounts, the exclusive launch of mobile phones, and unfair preferential treatment to some sellers. Amazon has dismissed the allegations saying that sellers independently set prize in the platform without the company’s interference.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CCI, requested the court to keep the petition pending after an interim-stay was granted in the case. Amazon said that the investigation in the case would cause irreparable loss to the stature of the company in the competitive e-commerce space.
