'A Barking Dog that Never Bites - Not Really!' - Competition Commission of India and Its Recent Orders

Abstract

Competition Commission of India (CCI) was established on 14th October, 2003 as the primary enforcement agency of the Competition Act, 2002. The functions of CCI can be broadly categorized into legislative, adjudicatory and advocacy. As far as the adjudicatory functions are concerned, CCI forms part of a three tier hierarchical structure. From 2009, when the adjudicatory functions of the CCI were notified, it has passed a large number of final orders under the Act. An analysis of these orders shows that a vast majority of them were issued under section 26 (2), which empowers the CCI to reject an information at the preliminary stage itself on the finding that no prima facie case was made out. But two recent orders imposing huge penalty on industrial houses stand out and have generated a renewed interest in competition law in India. In the backdrop of these two orders, this article attempts to analyze the new competition jurisprudence emerging in India. Though two years is a short period of time to infer any definite trends, the analysis shows that certain features stand out. These are: development of ‘desi’ competition jurisprudence; carving out an impartial adjudicatory role; and the existence of space for dissent.