The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has agreed to hear US e-commerce firm Amazon’s plea challenging the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) suspension of approval to the 2019 transaction with Future Group on February 02.
The appellate tribunal has directed the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL) to file their reply in next 10 days and Amazon to file a rejoinder over it.
According to the sources, Amazon has made many arguments in its petition to NCLAT including saying that deal with Future was signed in April 2019, and the complaint was filed towards the end of 2021 and as per law, the CCI did not have the right to unwind a transaction post 12 months. The e-commerce firm also has contended that the fine imposed by the CCI was way over the mark than what other penalties were charged in the previous cases.
Last year in December, the CCI suspended Amazon’s 2019 deal worth Rs 1500 crore with Future Retail (FRL), citing the company’s alleged deliberate design to suppress information about the scope and purpose of the deal. The antitrust regulator had imposed a penalty of Rs 200 crore on Amazon to be paid within 60 days of receipt of the order.
This month Amazon filed a legal challenge at the NCLAT against the CCI suspension of the e-commerce firm’s 2019 deal with Future Retail (FRL). Parallelly, Amazon’s Indian unit also approached the Supreme Court against a halt on an arbitration case against Future Retail’s (FRL) asset sale to Reliance Industries (RIL).
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which represents about 70 million traders, said that NCLAT has also refused to grant interim relief to Amazon and to stay the CCI Order. It said that in December 2021, CCI held that Amazon misguided, did not make full disclosure, and suspended approval granted to Amazon.
“Made all necessary disclosure, CCI was informed about protective rights of Amazon over Future Retail. Future is trying to use the CCI order to stall arbitration proceedings,” said CAIT about Amazon’s argument to NCLAT.
CAIT has filed Appeal No. 3 of 2022 before the NCLAT challenging the CCI Order dated 17 December 2021 (CCI Order) to the extent that the CCI has directed the Approval Order dated 28 November 2021 to be kept in abeyance. “CAIT believes that in view of the fraud played by Amazon, the CCI ought to have revoked the order and kept it in abeyance,” alleged CAIT.
CAIT’s appeal was listed along with the two appeals, each filed by Amazon and the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation.
All three appeals were heard by the NCLAT on Thursday. Pursuant to a short hearing, CAIT said the NCLAT was pleased to issue a notice in all the appeals and directed the parties to file their respective replies. The NCLAT has not granted any stay of the CCI Order.
In the NCLAT, CAIT is represented by Krishnan Venugopal, Senior Advocate, Saurabh Kirpal, Senior Advocate, Rajat Sehgal and Abir Roy.
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