Author: kkslawoffices

The Rajya Sabha passed the Mediation Bill, 2021 that aims to promote and facilitate mediation for resolution of disputes and enforce mediated settlement agreements. The Bill requires individuals to attempt and resolve civil or commercial disputes through mediation before resorting to any court or tribunal and attend at least two mediation sessions before withdrawing from the process. The Bill also establishes the Mediation Council of India to oversee the mediation process.

The Competition Commission, in South Africa, released its final report on Online Intermediation Platforms Market Inquiry after two years of investigation into local and international business-to-consumer (B2C) online platform markets, identifying features that adversely affect competition in these markets. The Commission proposed several remedial actions to address these findings, including removal of restrictive pricing clauses, full information of commission fees charged by platforms to consumers, inter alia, with an aim to increase visibility and opportunity for smaller South African platforms.

The Calcutta High Court, while quashing a Sessions Court order reducing the monthly maintenance for the first wife, observed that “A man who can marry for the second time (permitted under personal law), is duty bound to maintain his first wife of 9 years.” The husband allegedly married another woman, after the petitioner wife was driven out of matrimonial home because the dowry demands were not fulfilled.

Booking Holdings Inc., in an attempt to convince the European Commission (EC) to approve its proposed acquisition of Sweden’s Etraveli Group, has offered concessions to ease competition concerns of the EC. The EC is concerned that the proposed acquisition of Etraveli Group, flight-only company, may give the travel group an added boost in the hotels sector and further strengthen its market position. Booking Holdings Inc. proposed remedies to allow users who book flights with Etraveli, accommodation options beyond those offered by Booking only, to address these concerns.

The National Dental Commission Bill, 2023, was passed by the Lok Sabha, repealing the Dentists Act, 1948, with an aim to regulate the dentistry profession and provide quality and affordable dental education. The Bill provides for the constitution of a National Dental Commission for the development and regulation of dental education and profession.

The European Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation into the conduct of Microsoft Inc. to assess whether it breached competition law by tying or bundling Microsoft Teams to its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 productivity suites. This investigation was subsequent to a complaint filed by Slack, a workspace messaging App Company, alleging that by tying its Microsoft Team product with Office Microsoft was forcing the installation of Teams, blocking its removal and hiding the true cost to enterprise customers.

The Calcutta High Court upheld the constitutional validity of Section 10C of the West Bengal School Service Commission Act, 1997 that empowers the State Government to order the School Service Commission to recommend transfer of a teacher from one school to another. Dismissing the argument that such transfers would infringe the right of life of teachers, the Court held, “In the perspective of the service in a public employment, the transfer is an incident of service and if the transfer is made in accordance with the procedure established by law, we do not find any justification that it infringes the fundamental right to life. Every service in the public employment unless forbidden by law is transferable.”

The Lok Sabha passed the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2022 to amend 42 laws across multiple sectors including agriculture, environment and media and publication. The aim of the Bill is to decriminalize and rationalize minor offences and reduce compliance burdens under various statutes to further trust-based governance for ease of living and doing business.

The Federal Trade Commission (‘FTC’) announced a 20-year term ‘proposed order’ prohibiting Surescripts, a health information technology company, from engaging in exclusionary conduct and executing non-compete agreement with its employees. The ‘proposed order’ was subsequent to a Federal Court ruling that found Surescripts to have a near-total monopoly in e-prescribing services, with a market share of 95%. The ‘proposed order’ will be finalized after a survey of the industry has been conducted by the FTC.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) dismissed a case filed by a licensed Surveyor and Loss Assessor (SLA), alleging anti-competitive conduct, against Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India’s (IRDAI) in connivance with the Indian Institute of Insurance Surveyors and Loss Assessors (IIISLA). IRDAI mandated membership with the IIISLA as an eligibility criterion for grant of renewal of SLA’s license which, as alleged, resulted in creating a monopoly in favour of IIISLA. However, the CCI observed that IRDAI is a statutory body created under the IRDAI Act, 1999 and IIISLA is a body promoted by IRDAI in the discharge of its functions under Section 14(2)(k) of the IRDAI Act. Thus, held that decision being regulatory in nature, the case falls outside the jurisdiction of the CCI.