Competition Commission of India (CCI) may reportedly seek the intervention of the Supreme Court in an antitrust case involving e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart, along with several sellers on their platforms.

What Happened: The CCI is reportedly planning to request the Supreme Court to consolidate over a dozen writ petitions filed by these sellers in various high courts, including Karnataka, Telangana, Madras and Kolkata, the Mint reported, citing sources.

These petitions have raised concerns over alleged procedural flaws in a CCI investigation report, which suggested that the e-commerce platforms favoured certain sellers.

The move aims to streamline the legal process and avoid conflicting rulings across different high courts, one source anonymously told the publication. By consolidating the cases, the CCI hopes to address all the legal challenges in a single forum, potentially speeding up the resolution of the matter.

A second source noted that the multiple court filings by sellers have stalled the CCI's ongoing investigation. The watchdog is now consulting legal experts on filing a transfer petition to the Supreme Court, which would allow it to club all related cases for a comprehensive review.

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What Legal Experts Say: Legal experts agree that a transfer petition could help bring a quicker resolution, pointing out that the delays in addressing the case could hurt small sellers and micro, small and medium enterprises relying on the e-commerce ecosystem. Consolidating the cases would enable the CCI to handle multiple legal questions more effectively, the experts believe.

The CCI's director general of investigation (DGI) had submitted a report in August indicating possible violations of competition laws by Amazon and Flipkart. The report highlighted issues such as preferential treatment for select sellers, exclusive product launches and aggressive discounting strategies.

However, several sellers, including Appario Retail, have challenged the findings in court. They argued that they were initially approached as third parties but were later categorized as "opposite parties" without the necessary approval from the CCI. In September, the Karnataka High Court granted an interim stay on the CCI's proceedings following petitions from multiple sellers, with the next hearing scheduled for November 20.

Heavy Scrutiny: The CCI has intensified its scrutiny of e-commerce platforms in recent years, as their rapid growth has sparked concerns about anti-competitive practices. Traditional retail players have repeatedly urged regulators to keep a close watch on these platforms to ensure fair competition.

Recently, it was reported that an investigation by the CCI found food delivery platforms Zomato and Swiggy guilty of favouring certain restaurants on their platforms in violation of antitrust laws. 

Notably, in 2020, Amazon and Flipkart sought relief from lower courts to halt a CCI probe initiated that year. The matter eventually reached the Supreme Court, which ruled in favour of the CCI's investigation, compelling the platforms to cooperate. The DGI's subsequent report was shared with the CCI and the companies involved this past August, reigniting the legal battles.

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