
Stop CCI probe against Dalmia cement, Guwahati HC rejects plea
Guwahati: Dalmia Cement’s attempt to block the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) probe into allegations of bid-rigging in tenders for the purchase of Oil Well Cement (OWC) failed as the Guwahati High Court in Assam rejected its plea.
The Guwahati High Court rejected Dalmia Cement’s plea, saying that the CCI had not conducted an extensive or investigative investigation and had not exceeded its jurisdiction.
The court, however, directed the CCI to provide the complete set of documents to Dalmia Cement, excluding those for which ONGC had claimed confidentiality.
The CCI probe was initiated in November 2020 after ONGC complained that Shree Digvijay Cement, Dalmia Cement, and India Cement had quoted identical rates or very similar rates in tenders for the purchase of OWC between 2013 and 2018.
The action violates the provisions of Section 3 of the Competition Act, 2002, which prohibits anti-competitive agreements, including cartelization and bid-rigging.
Dalmia Cement argued that the CCI did not consider the fact that there were only a few suppliers of OWC in India and that mere price parallelism should not be sufficient to warrant an investigation.
He also claimed that the CCI’s investigative arm exceeded its authority by conducting a wide-ranging inquiry and failed to provide the necessary documents to Dalmia Cement.
However, the High Court found that the CCI had not conducted an extensive or scrutinizing investigation and had not exceeded its jurisdiction.
It pointed out that the CCI’s notice clearly outlined the nature of the investigation, and was based on information received from the ONGC, which identified a prima facie case for investigation.
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