Supreme Court to hear CCI plea on Amazon, Flipkart case on Friday

The Supreme Court will on Friday hear Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) plea for combining two dozen writ petitions filed by various current and former online sellers of e-commerce platforms Amazon and Flipkart, after the competition watchdog informed the apex court that multiple cases in different High Courts could lead to conflicting judgements.

The apex court has listed CCI’s plea to combine the writ petitions filed in different High Courts by companies like Cloudtail India Pvt. Ltd, Appario Retail Pvt. Ltd and Samsung India Electronics Pvt. Ltd for hearing by Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal, court documents showed.  

Also Read: Meta to appeal against CCI penalty order

Attorney General R. Venkataramani is representing CCI. 

Sellers challenge CCI’s probe

Two dozen online sellers on the two e-commerce platforms had filed writ petitions in various high courts, challenging CCI’s antitrust probe against the e-commerce giants, which was later expanded to include the sellers as well. The High Courts of Karnataka, Punjab and Haryana and Madras had granted stay on CCI’s proceedings, in favour of the companies.

An early decision to combine all the 24 cases filed by the companies could help CCI to break the logjam in its proceedings and attempt timely closure. 

CCI believes the slew of writs filed by the sellers are meant to restrict its investigative powers. The sellers, however, claim their status as ‘third parties’ when CCI started its probe into alleged anti-competitive practices by Amazon and Flipkart four years ago was changed to ‘opposite party’ in CCI’s July 2024 order based on its director general’s investigation, without any prior notice or hearing. 

Also Read: Multiple writ petitions by e-commerce players aim curtailing regulator’s powers: CCI tells SC

Queries emailed to the CCI, Amazon, Flipkart, Cloudtail India, Appario Retail and Samsung India Electronics on Thursday seeking comments for the story remained unanswered at the time of publishing.

Corporate governance research and advisory firm InGovern Research Services Pvt. Ltd on Friday said in a letter addressed to the Union finance and corporate affairs minister Nirmala Sitharaman, commerce minister Piyush Goyal and ministry of corporate affairs secretary Deepti Gaur Mukerjee that CCI’s action “not only eroded the brand value of these third-party sellers but has also robbed them of right of commitment.”

The firm said that as per competition law, the sellers once aware that they are a potential accused after the order instituting investigation, have the right to commit to CCI to not do any activities that could harm competition. “The sellers were not informed of their potential liability and were denied the opportunity to present their case or exercise their rights as potential accused parties,” InGovern Research said.

Also Read: EU digital competition norms offer guidance, but local norms essential: CCI

CCI is of the view that the two dozen writ petitions filed in high courts by the companies indirectly intend to restrict the regulator’s investigative powers, Mint reported on 8 December.