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Informist, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a petition by the Travel Agents Association of India, alleging anti-competitive agreements between the government and its travel agents which denied market access to the petitioner. The top court said it had settled the issue way back in 2012 and it was a policy decision of the government asking its officials and public sector companies' employees to utilise the services of either Balmer Lawrie and Co. Ltd. or Ashok Travels and Tours for booking air tickets for official travels. 

"...we are of the view that since the issue was concluded a long time back in 2012, we don't want to reopen it," said the bench of Justice R.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan. The top court upheld the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal's order to rule against the Travel Agents Association of India. 

Travel Agents had alleged that the Department of Expenditure, the nodal department of the finance ministry, had adopted exclusionary market prices in favour of Balmer Lawrie and Ashok Travels for closing the market to the petitioner. The exclusionary market conduct of the department was going on for the last 14 years and has restricted the market access for travel agent services for booking air tickets in India and has adversely impacted the benefit of fair competition which would have resulted in lower prices and better services to the end consumers, said Travel Agents Association. 

The association alleged that the department had issued an office memorandum titled 'Guidelines on Air Travel on Official Tours- Purchase of Air Ticket From Authorised Agents'. The office memorandum contained directions to all government officials, including the employees of public sector companies, to exclusively utilise the services of either Balmer Lawrie or Ashok Travels while booking air tickets for official travels, said the association. The association wanted an enquiry under Section 26(1) of the Competition Act to be initiated against the Department and the travel agents. 

In 2020, the Competition Commission of India had dismissed the Travel Agents association's contention by observing that the Department of Expenditure cannot be regarded as an enterprise in terms of Section 2(h) of the Competition Act as its principal activity was not business but policymaking. The commission had said that the Department of Expenditure did not have any agreement with these travel agencies but had only issued internal communications to government employees. Thus, it is not a business activity that falls within the ambit of the Competition Act, the competition watchdog had ruled. This view was upheld by the appellate tribunal on Oct. 25.

At 1320 IST, shares of Balmer Lawrie traded 0.5% higher at INR 234.61 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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