Coal India to come under Competition Act: Supreme Court

Tags: National National News

The Supreme Court recently said that public sector company (PSU) Coal India Limited (CIL) will also come under the purview of the Competition Act.

An overview of the news

• Court rejected CIL's argument that the act does not apply to them due to their operation under the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act.

• A bench of Justices KM Joseph, BV Nagaratna and Ahsanuddin Amanullah said, "Section 54 of the Competition Act empowers the Central Government to grant exemption for any period from the operation of this Act or any provision thereof." which shall be specified in the notification.

• The grounds for exemption may be security of the state or public interest.

• If the appellant proves a proper case to exclude it from the purview of the Act, the Government will be powerless.

• The issue has been sent back to the Competition Commission of India to decide on its merits.

Dismissal of appeals

• The tribunal had upheld the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) order, holding CIL guilty of abuse of dominance in the production and supply of non-coking coal, resulting in a penalty imposed by the CCI.

• The CCI imposed a penalty of Rs 1,773.05 crore on CIL for unfair and discriminatory conditions in fuel-supply agreements. 

• The tribunal later reduced the penalty amount to Rs 591.01 crore.

Competition Commission of India (CCI) 

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is the chief national competition regulator in India. 

• It was set up under the Competition Act, 2002

• It comes under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

• It promotes healthy market competition and prevents activities that have an adverse effect on competition in India. 

• CCI also approves combinations under the act so that two merging entities do not overtake the market.

• Headquarter - New Delhi

• Current Chairman - Ashok Kumar Gupta