Delhi High
Court has recently, in South Asia LGP Company Private Limited v. Competition
Commission of India & Ors, held that the affected party does not
have a right of hearing before the Competition Commission of India
(“Commission”) can order a further investigation under Section 26(7) of the
Competition Act, 2002 (“Competition Act”).
In the
present case, a complaint was made against the petitioner, South Asia LPG
Company Private Ltd, by the respondent no.3, East India Petroleum Private Limited.
It was alleged in the complaint that the petitioner was misusing its dominant position
in the terminaling services at Vishakhapatnam Port. The relevant market under
Section 2(r) of the Competition Act, as identified by the Director General, was
‘upstream and downstream terminaling services at the Vishakhapatnam Port’.
The Commission,
under Section 19 of the Competition Act, may inquiry to check whether there has
a contravention of the provisions contained in subsection (1) of Section 3 or subsection
(1) of Section 4. The said inquiry can be initiated by the Commission either suo moto or on a reference by the
government/statutory authority or on receipt of information from a person,
i.e., complainant. If Commission is of the prima
facie opinion that there is an alleged contravention of the provisions, it
can then direct the Director General under Section 26(1) to cause an
investigation into the matter.[1]In case the Director General comes to the conclusion that no contravention of the impugned
provisions have been made, the complainant is provided with an opportunity to
rebut such findings of the Director General under Competition Act.
