CCI dismisses complaint against UP State Road Transport Corp

The Competition Commission has rejected allegations made against Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) with regard to certain conditions in tenders floated for procuring bus chassis.

The complaint was filed by VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd -- a joint venture between Eicher Motors India and Sweden's Volvo Group.

This is the second time that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has dismissed a complaint filed by VE Commercial Vehicles against the UPSRTC.

Among others, it was alleged that there existed a tacit anti-competitive agreement among Tata Motors Ltd (TML), Ashok Leyland Ltd (ALL) and the UPSRTC in violation of Section 3 of the Competition Act.
 

Section 3 relates to anti-competitive agreements.

For the present case, the regulator considered the "market for procurement of bus chassis in India" as the relevant one.

It was also alleged that the UPSRTC had abused its dominant position and violated Section 4 of the Act by granting favourable terms and conditions for TML and ALL in the tenders floated.

Section 4 pertains to abuse of dominant market position.

In an order dated September 7, the watchdog said the UPSRTC does not seem to enjoy a position of strength in the relevant market.

"In the absence of dominance in the relevant market, assessment of abuse of dominant position is not required under the provisions of Section 4 of the Act," the regulator added.

With regard to allegation made under Section 3, the CCI said facts of the case indicate that the UPSRTC, TML and ALL are not engaged in identical or similar trade of goods or provision of services.

The order was passed by five members of the CCI, including chairman D K Sikri.

In a supplementary order, CCI member Augustine Peter said if the UPSRTC had the intention to favour TML and ALL, it could have couched the conditions in such a manner as to exclude all the new players from the bid, but that was not the case.

"As part of the Vendor Development Programme, new and less experienced players are allowed to participate though some additional conditions have been imposed on them based on business justification," he said.