Supreme Court leans towards consolidating multiple petitions by Amazon, Flipkart in Karnataka High Court, streamlining cases over CCI's probe into alleged deep discounts and preferential seller practices.
The Supreme Court is of the view that the Karnataka High Court should hear the challenges against the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) probe into e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart's alleged anti-competitive practices.
However, the top court chose not to pass a final order yet, stating that its views were only prima facie and kept its final order pending until 6 January, after more petitions were filed and needed to be accommodated into the case. The court also restrained the Karnataka High Court from proceeding in the case until a final order is made on 6 January.
“Prima facie, we are of the view that all cases pending across various jurisdictions should be transferred to the Karnataka High Court,"
the Supreme Court said.
Two dozen online sellers on Amazon and Flipkart had filed writ petitions in various high courts, challenging the CCI’s antitrust probe against the e-commerce giants. The High Courts of Karnataka, Punjab and Haryana, and Madras had granted stays on CCI’s proceedings in favour of the companies. The CCI argued that the writ petitions were an attempt to scuttle the investigation process.
On 13 December, during the final day of the hearing in the Supreme Court, a disagreement arose between the CCI and e-commerce sellers over which high court should hear the case. Attorney General R. Venkataramani argued for the Delhi High Court to handle all petitions, while the sellers, represented by senior counsels Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Mukul Rohatgi, preferred the Karnataka High Court to continue overseeing the case.
Venkataramani suggested that once the Karnataka case was resolved, remaining petitions in other high courts should be transferred to Delhi. However, the Supreme Court rejected this, warning it would set a dangerous precedent, and instructed the attorney general to seek clear instructions on transferring the cases to the Karnataka High Court, which the CCI later agreed to.
In January 2020, the CCI initiated a probe against Amazon, Flipkart and other affiliated parties into alleged anti-competitive practices, including giving preference to select sellers who were closely connected to the e-commerce platforms.
Later, a number of Amazon and Flipkart sellers were also involved in the investigation. This led Amazon and the sellers to begin approaching high courts with writ petitions to stay the probe.
Source: Mint
