Amazon, Flipkart Antitrust Probe: Supreme Court Favours Karnataka High Court For All Cases
CCI told the Supreme Court that two more cases have been filed in the matter, apart from the 24 cases already being heard at various high courts across the country.
The Supreme Court on Monday said that it is of a prima facie view that all cases pertaining to the antitrust probe launched against e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart should ideally be heard by the Karnataka High Court.
Appearing for the Competition Commission of India, Attorney General of India, R Venkatramani, told the top court that two additional cases have been filed in the matter, apart from the existing 24 cases going on in various high courts across the country.
Of these 24 cases, 12 are being heard by the Karnataka High Court.
As a result, a division bench of the court led by Justice Abhay S. Oka issued notice to the parties forming part of the additional cases. The case will now be heard again on January 6.
In the meantime, the court has directed that the proceedings going on in the 12 cases before the Karnataka High Court shall not continue for now.
The issue dates back to 2019 when the Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh, an organisation of smartphone and related accessories traders, made serious allegations of anti-competitive practices against major e-commerce platforms, Amazon and Flipkart.
There were allegations against these e-commerce giants for giving preferred treatment to some e-tailers, including Cloudtail India Pvt., Samsung India Electronics Pvt., Vivo Mobile India Pvt., and Appario Retail Pvt.
It was alleged that almost all sales on these platforms are done by their own preferred sellers which has led to the closure of businesses for lakhs of other sellers on these marketplaces.
In 2020, the regulator ordered an investigation into the alleged use of exclusive arrangements, deep discounting, and preferential listing by Amazon and Flipkart as an exclusionary tactic to eliminate competition.
However, the issue has come to a standstill since then by virtue of stay orders passed by the high courts on the investigation process.
During the last hearing before the apex court on Friday, the court said that it was not inclined to give special treatment to the CCI and said that it would not be transferring the cases before itself or before the Delhi High Court.
However, the court suggested that the cases could be clubbed and transferred before the single judge bench of the Karnataka High Court.
