In a crucial development on Monday, the Supreme Court directed the transfer of all petitions related to the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) probe into alleged malpractices by e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart, consolidating them in the Karnataka High Court. This significant judicial decision was delivered by a bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan.
The apex court’s decision comes in response to multiple pleas filed in various high courts by Amazon and Flipkart. These petitions challenge the CCI’s order to investigate the companies for practices such as deep discounting and exclusive tie-ups with preferred sellers, which were flagged by the Delhi Vyapar Mahasang, representing a large group of smartphone and accessory traders.
During the proceedings, Attorney General R Venkataramani informed the court that since the CCI’s filing of the transfer petition, five related pleas had been registered across different state high courts. The Supreme Court ruled that centralizing these petitions in the Karnataka High Court would streamline the legal process and ensure a unified approach to the allegations.
Justice Oka emphasized the appropriateness of this decision, stating, “It will be appropriate if all the petitions which are the subject matter of this transfer petition are transferred for hearing to the High Court of Karnataka.” The court also specified that any similar future petitions filed in other high courts should likewise be transferred to Karnataka.
This ruling is part of the Supreme Court’s broader strategy to manage cases more efficiently and reflects its previous actions where it had issued a notice regarding the CCI’s plea. The CCI had sought to have all cases transferred to either the Supreme Court itself or the Delhi High Court to avoid the discrepancies that might arise from different high courts handling related issues.
