Author: kkslawoffices

The Supreme Court (SC) in a Special Leave Petition (SLP), challenging an order of National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) passed in its appellate jurisdiction, has held that a remedy to appeal before the SC is only available for the orders passed by the NCDRC in its original jurisdiction. The SC further observed that when the party aggrieved has alternative remedy to go before the High Court, invoking its writ or supervisory jurisdiction, the SC should not entertain petition seeking special leave thereby short-circuit the legal procedure prescribed.

The Federal Trade Commission in the United States has withdrawn its case filed before a US District Court challenging the proposed multi-billion dollar acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft Corporation over competition concerns. The FTC’s request for the grant of preliminary injunction on the acquisition was denied by the Court, leading the FTC to withdraw its administrative challenge.

The South Korean competition regulator, Fair Trade Commission, imposed a fine of $31.9 million on a network of 32 pharmaceutical firms for market collusion in the production, distribution and wholesale of vaccines. The companies were involved in collusive practices in a total of 170 vaccine procurement bids carried out by the Public Procurement Service in the national immunization program, which were worth around 700 billion Won in total.

Alfaview, a German company, filed an antitrust complaint before the European Commission against Microsoft Corporation over the bundling of Microsoft Teams with Office, alleging that the bundling gives Microsoft an unfair advantage over its competitors. While Microsoft has proposed to lower the price of Office without including Teams, Alfaview is concerned that the remedy proposed is insufficient and has urged the European Commission to launch a formal investigation into the conduct of Microsoft.

The Calcutta High Court dismissed the appeal filed by the State of West Bengal, holding that the State must compensate the petitioners for utilizing their land without paying them any compensation, or following due process of law, even if there is a delay of more than 40 years in approaching the Courts for compensation. It also dismissed the argument that greater financial burden will be cast upon the State if compensation is paid as per the present Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 when the land was acquired in 1972-73, since the State “should on its own ensure that due compensation is paid..”

The Supreme Court (SC), while dealing with a case relating to settlement of electricity charges dues, involving a company undergoing liquidation under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC), has held that the creditors under IBC are entitled to have their debts repaid first, before dues payable to the State or the Central governments are settled. The SC, while emphasizing on ‘waterfall mechanism’ given under Section 53 of IBC, observed that the dues payable to creditors under the IBC stand on a higher footing than the electricity dues payable under the Electricity Act, 2003.

The Supreme Court (SC) was dealing with an appeal filed against the Madras High Court’s (Mad. HC) order in which the Mad. HC has convicted the accused, by relying on school transfer certificate while determining the age of the victim, for the offences under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act). The SC observed such reliance to be erroneous especially considering Section 94(2) of Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 (JJ Act), which does not set out school transfer certificate as a valid evidence for the process of determining the age of the victim. Further, in absence of documents as prescribed under the JJ Act, the prosecution has to prove the age of the victim through acceptable medical tests/examination as per Section 94(2)(iii) of the JJ Act.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) dismissed an Information, against M3M India Private Limited (M3M), alleging abuse of dominance by constructing an additional tower in its residential project M3M Merlin in complete violation of the initial sanctioned plan. Informant alleged that the initial plan included a low-rise Economically Weaker Section (EWS) building on one corner; however M3M revised the layout and started construction of the additional tower without obtaining approval from the M3M Merlin’s residents. However, the CCI noted that in the relevant market of “provision of services of development and sale of residential flats in Gurgaon” there are several other real-estate developers like DLF, Emaar India, Godrej Properties, Ansal API etc. which impose significant competitive constraints on the M3M, thus no dominance of M3M can be established. (Case No.02/2023)

The Spanish National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) has, collectively, imposed a fine of 194 million Euros on Apple and Amazon for executing an agreement restricting competition in the market place of Amazon in Spain. According to the agreement, only the resellers designated by Apple were allowed to sell Apple products on Amazon, resulting in loss of an important sales channel for other resellers. Further, advertising clauses disallowed Amazon to advertise products from competing brands during purchase process involving Apple products.

The Allahabad High Court (AHC) in a case involving denial of promotion to a CRPF employee, on the ground of him being Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positive, held that persons diagnosed with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or HIV cannot be denied employment or promotions, solely on account of them being HIV-positive, if they are otherwise fit to work. The AHC further observed that “HIV/AIDS patients have a right of equal treatment everywhere and they cannot be denied job opportunity or discriminated in employment matters on the ground of their HIV/AIDS status.”