SC transfers all cases against Flipkart, Amazon to Karnataka HC on CCI plea

The order came on a plea filed by the Competition Commission of India, which sought to consolidate all 24 cases pending across various high courts against Amazon and Flipkart

The Supreme Court on Monday transferred to Karnataka High Court all cases alleging malpractices by e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart. The order came on a plea filed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which sought to consolidate all 24 cases pending across various high courts against Amazon and Flipkart.

 

During the hearing, a bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said if pleadings in some of the transferred petitions were not completed, the judge seized of the matter would grant reasonable time to complete the pleadings.

 

"It will be appropriate if all the petitions which are the subject matter of this transfer petition are transferred for hearing to the High Court of Karnataka," news agency PTI quoted the bench as saying.

 

 

Why did CCI move against Amazon, Flipkar?

 

The CCI is a statutory body tasked with enforcing competition law and ensuring a fair and competitive marketplace in India. It first launched its investigation against Amazon and Flipkart in January 2020 on a complaint filed by Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh, a traders’ association, alleging that Amazon and Flipkart preferred select sellers to boost their products’ visibility.

 

According to a report in Moneycontrol, the traders' panel alleged that these sellers were closely linked to these e-commerce platforms.

 

However, litigation by the e-commerce platforms initially paused the probe. Subsequent cases filed by affiliated sellers across multiple High Courts including Karnataka, Delhi and Telangana further delayed progress, with the CCI highlighting that four years have passed without a conclusive order. 

What happened during Supreme Court hearing?

 

During the hearing in Supreme Court, Attorney General R Venkataramani informed the bench that, after filing of the present petition by CCI, five pleas had been filed in different high courts.

 

On this, the top court ordered that all these petitions be transferred to Karnataka High Court. "If similar petitions are hereafter instituted in any other high court, the same shall be also covered by this order," the bench said.  (With inputs from agencies)