Amazon, on Monday, filed a writ petition in the Karnataka High Court seeking a stay on the order of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to investigate the business models of both Amazon and Flipkart.

Last month, the CCI had directed its Director-General to start investigating Amazon and its rival Flipkart owned by Walmart, over serious allegations of violation of competition law, including practices such as predatory pricing, deep discounting, preferential seller listing, exclusive partnerships, private labels, etc, made by the Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh (DVM) whose members comprise traders from many micro, small and medium enterprises, who rely on trade of smartphones and related accessories.

The CCI has directed the Director-General to complete the investigation within 60 days from the receipt of the order.

While Amazon refused to comment on the matter, Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary-General of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), said: “Amazon today filed a writ petition in the Bangalore High Court seeking a stay on CCI investigations. But since a caveat was already filed by DVM in Bangalore High Court, the Amazon petition is served on a lawyer of DVM at Bangalore. The case is expected to be listed tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”

He further said the writ petition filed by Amazon reflects how furious the e-commerce major is with CCI investigation and is ample testimony to the fact that its business model is all wrong and is not in compliance with the provisions of the FDI policy and law of the land.

“Amazon claims that it follows the FDI policy, then why is it opposing the CCI investigation. Let the investigation be conducted by CCI which will make the position clear,” he added.

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