Delhi High Court directs CCI to dispose off Amazon issue within 2 weeks
Delhi High Court (File/Photo)
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to dispose off the matter of revocation of approval given to Amazon which has been challenged by the Future Coupons Limited.
The direction was issued on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) which sought the High Court's intervention for protecting 6,000 traders who had supplied goods to the Future Group amounting to about Rs 10,000 crore.
The CAIT has prayed that between the fights of corporate giants, traders should not suffer financial losses.
Additional Solicitor General N. Venkatraman, who represented the CCI, informed the court that the the Commission is contemplating on calling Amazon on January 4, 2022 for a hearing after which the matter will be decided.
The court refused the arguments and said that the matter should be disposed of within two weeks. The CAIT was represented by Advocate Saurabh Kripal, Rajat Sehgal and others.
CAIT, through its representation to the CCI, had demanded the annulment of its approval that was granted to Amazon on the basis of their misrepresentation about the actual transaction.
Amazon's claim of control over FRL through their investment in FCPL is illegal as no-foreign company is allowed to own or control a multi-brand retail company such as Future Retail Limited.
The CAIT said that if such misrepresentation is allowed to continue, then every company would misrepresent the facts of transactions just to seek the CCI's approval and subsequently carry out a different transaction camouflaged as approved by CCI.
It also said that the proposed transactions contemplated in the FRL's scheme, if given effect, would ensure that the tens of thousands of investors and shareholders would get a lifeline to recover their hard-earned monies entrusted to the Future Group.
Banks, including public sector banks, would avoid the prospect of yet another major non-performing loan being added to their book.
To protect the interests of the traders, the CAIT has sought relief from the court to issue directions calling for all documents, records, internal notes, and other information relating to the subject matter of the present petition from the CCI.
It has also prayed to direct CCI to take a decision with respect to the show-cause notice dated June 4 within a period of ten days in accordance with law and the facts and circumstances of the case.
The CAIT had demanded the annulment of its approval that was granted to Amazon on the basis of their misrepresentation about the actual transaction.
It said that if such misrepresentation is allowed to continue, then every company would misrepresent the facts of transactions just to seek CCI's approval and subsequently carry out different transaction camouflaged as a transaction approved by CCI.