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Informist, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court on Monday said that prima facie, all antitrust cases involving Amazon Seller Services Pvt. Ltd., Flipkart Internet Private Ltd., and their affiliated entities should be transferred to the Karnataka High Court. The apex court issued notices to Cloudtail India Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture of Amazon and Catamaran Ventures, and other parties in the related 26 antitrust cases, after noting that two more cases had reached the court in the current case.

 

"Parties which are represented today take notice. We permit petitioners to add parties. Amended cause title shall be filed in two days. Notices are made returnable on Jan. 6," said a bench of Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Manmohan. Further, the top court stayed all the cases pending before the Karnataka High Court for the time being. 

 

The case has its genesis in a 2020 order in which the Competition Commission of India ordered a director general probe against Amazon and Flipkart for preferring select sellers to boost the visibility of their products. The antitrust watchdog was hearing information by Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh, whose members comprised many micro, small and medium enterprise traders who rely on the trade of smartphones and related accessories. 

 

Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh had alleged that there were instances of several vertical agreements between Amazon, Flipkart and their preferred sellers on the platform, which led to foreclosure of other non-preferred traders or sellers from these online marketplaces. Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh said that most of these preferred sellers were affiliated with or controlled by Flipkart or Amazon, either directly or indirectly. This was challenged by Amazon and Flipkart in the high court, which initially stayed the probe but later allowed it to continue. 

 

In August, the competition watchdog's director general gave its report, stating that Amazon and Flipkart had collaborated with certain sellers and mobile phone brands to engage in anti-competitive behaviour, including exclusive product launches, significant discounts, and preferential listings, which breached the Competition Act, 2002. Challenging this, Amazon, Flipkart and their sellers moved to different high courts. 

 

In September, the Karnataka High Court stayed the probe against the electronic commerce companies after observing that the director general of the Competition Commission of India had disregarded its procedural rules in its probe. Before this, various high courts had also stayed the probe against the e-commerce companies. Contesting the multiplicity of proceedings in different high courts, the competition watchdog moved the apex court. The antitrust body sought consolidation of proceedings in the apex court, which the latter refused and asked them to choose the high court where they wanted consolidation of cases.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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