Top court rejects CCI's case transfer request

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday told the Competition Commission of India (CCI) that it cannot get any "special treatment" in petitions challenging its antitrust probe against e-commerce giants including Amazon and Flipkart transferred from various high courts to the top court, and granted it time till Monday (December 16) to take instructions on whether all matters could be bunched and heard together by the Karnataka High Court (HC).

- Abraham Thomas

A single bench of the Karnataka HC is currently hearing a dozen petitions by various e-retailers challenging the commission's August 28 order. CCI, in its appeal, sought to transfer the cases pending before the high courts of Allahabad, Madras, Telangana, Punjab & Haryana, Delhi and Karnataka, either to the Supreme Court, or alternatively, to the Delhi High Court where the matter is pending before a two-judge bench.

A bench headed by Justice Abhay S. Oka said, "Just because in one high court, it is being heard by a single judge bench and in other high courts, it is a division bench (of two judges), you want us to transfer. It will be accepting a very dangerous precedent."

The court said that, in the past, when faced with a similar situation, the court has directed the matters to be heard by the leading high court where the matter has substantially progressed. Moreover, a final order passed by the single judge would be appealable before a division bench or the top court. By bringing the cases to the apex court, the bench, also comprising Justice Pankaj Mithal observed, "It will bypass their right to file a special leave petition."