Competition Commission is not Required to Provide Reasons While Initiating an Enquiry or Calling For Information: SC
Competition Commission doesn’t need to provide reasons while issuing letters to undertakings/businesses asking for information, nor does it need to provide them with an opportunity of hearing before initiating “enquiry” under section 37. The stage at which the Commission is bound to provide reasons and opportunity of hearing is when it issues a Show Cause Notice under S. 30 of the Competition Act, 2010. The 3-member Supreme Court bench unanimously held this while allowing CCP’s appeal against an IHC judgment.
The IHC judgment authored by J. Babar Sattar had held the opposite, thereby considerably reducing CCP’s powers and scope of action.
The CCP was represented before SCP by Mr. Faisal Siddique, ASC. The business entities, which lost the case, were represented by Mr. Faisal Hussain Naqvi, ASC.
c.a._1692_2021
