Analysis of NCLAT’s Functioning as Competition Law Appellate Tribunal

Abstract

In this paper, we present a critical analysis of the functioning of the appellate authority of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Specifically, we evaluate the performance of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) — the current appellate for competition law in India — by comparing and contrasting its functioning with that of the erstwhile Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT). We use data from publicly available sources such as annual reports of CCI, NCLAT’s website, etc., as well as replies to the Right to Information (RTI) applications construed and filed by the authors of this paper. We suggest a remedial orientation in this paper to enable a resolution of the hurdles in the present mode of appeals and move forward while minimising deliberations on the apportionment of fault for the present modalities.