Initially, the Competition Act, 2002 did not provide for setting up of an Appellate Tribunal, accordingly a person aggrieved by an order of Competition Commission of India was required to file an appeal with the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, in the wake of an order passed by the apex court in Brahm Dutt v. Union of lndia, 1 the Government of India amended the law and inter-alia mandated the Central Government to set up a Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) to hear appeals against order passed by the CCI and also to adjudicate on compensation application to offset the loss/ damages caused as a result of contravention of the law/ disobedience of orders passed under the Act. Accordingly, when the law came into force in May, 2009, the Government constituted appellate tribunal.
In the last 8 years of journey of competition regime, the scrutiny of orders of CCI by the COMPAT has been found to be 'sturdy and robust accountability mechanism'. The COMPAT through its orders has ensured that the Commission works in a fair and transparent basis, following the principles of natural justice. The COMPAT through various orders has made it palpably clear that the CCI being a quasi-judicial body has to abide by the principles of natural justice and has shed light on many provisions which are not explicit. Until the close of financial year 2015-16, the COMPAT has disposed of 360 appeals. Out of these, the COMPAT upheld CCI's order in 216 appeals, in 144 appeals the order of CCI have been struck down. The COMPAT has remanded 114 matters to CCI for fresh examination. COMPAT in series of its orders has held that penalty on a delinquent enterprise needs to be determined on relevant turnover and not on the basis of total turnover and this principle has been recently endorsed by the Supreme Court. However, in the breeze of consolidation of tribunals, the Government through the Finance Act, 2017 has dissolved the COMPAT from May, 2017. NCLAT is to adjudicate the appeals filed against the orders passed by NCLT benches and Insolvency & Bankruptcy orders. Currently, NCLAT has a Chairman and a Technical Member only. It remains to be seen how the already overburdened NCLAT will deal with complex anti-trust cases. The views expressed by author are personal.
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