CCI to move Supreme Court to break logjam in Amazon, Flipkart anti-trust case

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: India’s competition watchdog may knock on the doors of the country’s top court in an anti-trust case involving e-commerce majors Amazon and Flipkart, and some sellers on their platforms, two persons aware of the development said. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is considering moving the Supreme Court to transfer to it more than a dozen writ petitions filed by these sellers in the high courts of Karnataka, Telangana, Madras and Kolkata.

The petitions have alleged procedural lapses in a CCI investigation report that found the e-commerce platforms favouring select sellers over others. The CCI’s effort is to ensure that these petitions are effectively addressed in one go, one of the two persons quoted above said on condition of anonymity. A second person, who also spoke on condition of not being named, said that the multiple writ petitions filed by the sellers have effectively brought CCI’s proceedings in the case to a halt.

CCI is now seeking expert counsel on a transfer petition to the Supreme Court and get all the related cases clubbed, the person added. Experts said CCI can move a transfer petition to the Supreme Court to bring an early closure to the matter and not fight multiple cases at various high courts. K.

Narasimhan, advocate, Madras High Court, said a transfer petition would help the CCI address multiples queries posed by various parties in different courts. “The longer these cases drag, the small sellers and MSMEs who are dependent on the ecommerce ecosystem could be severely impacted," Narasimhan added. CCI’s director general of investigation (DGI) had in August sent a report to CCI confirming suspected violations of competition law by the two e-commerce