Supreme Court Issues Notice On Meru Cab's Plea Alleging Anti-Competitive Practices By Ola

The Supreme Court, on Monday, issued notice in the appeal filed by Meru Cab assailing the order of the National Company Appellate Tribunal refusing to set aside the order passed by the Competition Commission of India exonerating Ola from allegations of abuse of dominant position. Senior Advocate, Mr. P. Chidambaram appearing on behalf of Meru Cabs submitted before the Bench, that the law regarding the abuse of dominant position in such cases have been laid down by the Apex Court in Uber India Systems Pvt. He referred to Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002 which deals with abuse of dominant position and reads as under - There shall be an abuse of dominant position under sub-section, if an enterprise or a group.—- directly or indirectly, imposes unfair or discriminatory— condition in purchase or sale of goods or service; or price in purchase or sale of goods or service. Explanation.— For the purposes of this clause, the unfair or discriminatory condition in purchase or sale of goods or service referred to in sub-clause and unfair or discriminatory price in purchase or sale of goods or service referred to in sub-clause shall not include such discriminatory condition or price which may be adopted to meet the competition; or Explanation.—For the purposes of this section, the expression— "dominant position" means a position of strength, enjoyed by an enterprise, in the relevant market, in India, which enables it to— operate independently of competitive forces prevailing in the relevant market; or "predatory price" means the sale of goods or provision of services, at a price which is below the cost, as may be determined by regulations, of production of the goods or provision of services, with a view to reduce com-petition or eliminate the competitors.