Parties

The information was filed by Mr. Vijay Halder (‘Informant’) against Mr. Ramesh, Mr. Chetan, Mr. Sandeep Gupta, Mr. Lakhwinder Singh and Mr. Rajan Sukhija (collectively as ‘5 Individuals’) and Deputy Medical Commissioner, Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (‘ESIC’) (collectively ‘OPs’). ESIC is a government entity responsible for procuring medicines for its healthcare facilities through e-tendering. ^[1]

Submissions by Informant

The Informant alleged that: (i) there is cartel arrangement between the 5 Individuals, ESIC officials, and 29 pharmaceutical companies leading to inflated prices for medicine procurement by ESIC; (ii) the tender guidelines and pricing structures were allegedly manipulated to favour certain parties; (iii) due to the collusion, there was an estimated loss of INR 400 crores (approx. USD 47 million) annually, with inflated prices being used as benchmarks by other government bodies; and (iv) these practices led to higher healthcare costs for the general public, even those not covered by ESIC.

Findings by CCI

The CCI observed that the: (i) Informant failed to provide substantial details or evidence to support the allegations, including specifics on tenders or individuals involved; (ii) only supporting material was a comparison of prices for a bandage, which was insufficient to prove cartelization; and (iii) the Informant did not respond to multiple requests by the CCI to submit additional information or evidence.

Since no prima facie case of contravention of the provisions of the Act was made out, the CCI dismissed the matter under Section 26(2) of the Act.

[1] Vijay Halder v. Chetan and Others, Case No. 41 of 2023.