Supreme Court transfers Amazon, Flipkart cases to Karnataka High Court on CCI plea

The Supreme Court on Monday transferred all cases alleging anti-competitive practices by e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart pending before various High Courts, to the Karnataka High Court [Competition Commission of India v. Cloudtail]..A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said, "The issue involved in the subject matter of this transfer petition is substantially seen as the issue involved in the Writ Petition no. 26627 of 2024 which is at present being heard by the single judge of Karnataka High Court. Therefore, it will be appropriate if all the petitions which are subject matter of this transfer petition are transferred for hearing to the High Court of Karnataka.".The Supreme Court was hearing a plea filed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to transfer a batch of 24 writ petitions concerning Amazon and Flipkart either to the top court or to a single High Court.The CCI had sought the transfer of these petitions preferably to the Delhi High Court, in order to expedite the adjudication as well as to minimise any scope of conflicting rulings on this issue..The 24 petitions are pending before High Courts of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, Karnataka and Allahabad, among others.They arise out of information filed by trade association Delhi Vyapar Sangh alleging violations of the Competition Act, 2002 by Amazon and Flipkart relating to sale and purchase of mobile phones. It is alleged that the e-commerce companies indulged in exclusive arrangements, deep discounts and preferential listings in violation of competition law..On December 16, the Supreme Court had observed that these cases ought to be transferred to the Karnataka High Court. Furthermore, the Court directed the High Court not to hear Amazon's petitions against the CCI till January 6.The Court was informed by Attorney General R Venkataramani and Additional Solicitor General N Venkataraman, who appeared for CCI, that the anti-trust regulator has no objection to the cases being transferred to the Karnataka High Court..In that hearing, the apex court stopped short of passing the order transferring the petitions to Karnataka High Court after it was informed that some of the parties have not been impleaded as respondents.Further, it was pointed out that two more petitions have been filed before the High Court pertaining to the same issue, taking the number of writ petitions to 26.The Supreme Court opined that an order transferring the petitions can be passed only after hearing all parties. It thus adjourned the matter to January 6..The CCI was represented by Attorney General R.Venkataramani with Arjun Krishnan and Anandh Venkataramani, Advocates. Some of the Respondents were represented by Senior Advocates Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Sajjan Poovayya. Karan S. Chandhiok, Modhulika Bose, Aileen Sundardas, Riddhika Dumane and Shourya Mitra from Chandhiok & Mahajan represented Samsung. Avinash Amarnath, Naman Golechha and Uday Bali from Chandhiok & Mahajan represented Rocket Kommerce.