NEW DELHI ,JUNE 18
Flipkart and Amazon have moved the Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court challenging the order of its single judge which allowed the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to conduct a probe into allegations that the e-commerce majors indulged in anti-competitive practices, predatory pricing and accorded preferential treatment to some sellers.“Flipkart filed its petition on Wednesday, while Amazon filed it on Thursday. Both are separate appeals. The bench is likely to take up the matter on Friday,” a source aware of the matter said. Flipkart and Amazon didn’t comment. The case saw several hearings and submissions made by the parties concerned before the single judge dismissed the plea of the e-commerce players last week, giving CCI the go-ahead to launch a probe against them.“… irreparable injury will be caused to the appellant if the investigation was to continue pending the present appeal, as (i) it would render the appeal infructuous, and (ii) subjecting an entity to an intrusive investigation by the DG in itself causes prejudice,” Flipkart said in its appeal. “The Ld single judge failed to appreciate that the Information filed before the CCI was a gross abuse of judicial process, as the informant has indulged in forum shopping and approached the CCI with unclean hands … The Ld single judge has failed to appreciate that the informant before the CCI had failed to disclose to the CCI that it was sponsored by CAIT (Confederation of All India Traders), it was a member of CAIT and that CAIT had indulged in forum shopping against the appellant by approaching various judicial forums..,” Flikpart said in its petition.Following a plea by the Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh, the CCI in January 2020 had directed its director general to probe Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart.
