The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT) today asked the Competition Commission of India to initiate a probe into charges of unfair trade practices by Flipkart using its dominant market position.

A three-member Bench of the NCLAT, headed by Chairman Justice S J Mukhopadhaya, set aside an earlier order of the CCI that had absolved Flipkart of unfair practices using its dominant position.

Shot-in-arm for trade: CAIT

The Bench upheld the case made by the All India Online Vendors Association. This order comes as a shot-in-the -arm for traders waging a legal fight against e-commerce giants such as Flipkart and Amazon for their alleged “unethical’’ practices, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has said.

“This order is certainly going to impact the stay granted by the Karnataka High Court against investigation into Amazon and Flipkart. Our lawyers will examine the implications of the order and then we will decide our future course of legal action,” said CAIT Secretary-General Praveen Khandelwal.

Khandelwal said Amazon and Flipkart had relied too much on this case in their petition in the Karnataka High Court but now with this NCLAT order, things would change at the High Court as well.

The Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh (DVM), a group representing small- and medium-size businesses, had earlier moved the CCI against Flipkart and Amazon, alleging unfair practices by the e-commerce companies such as deep-discounting and loss-funding and entering into exclusive arrangements with mobile phone brands.

“Although the DVM case is presently stayed by the Karnataka High Court, we are taking necessary legal steps with a prayer to ensure the CCI investigation is carried out into the deep-discounting and loss-funding practices of Amazon and Flipkart,”Khandelwal said.

 

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