On February 28, 2020, CCI dismissed a complaint filed by Abhiraj Associates Pvt. Ltd. (‘AAPL’) alleging that Eastern Railways has entered into an anti-competitive agreement in contravention of Section 3 of the Act[1].

AAPL alleged that in July 2019, pursuant to the directions of the Indian Railway Board through its letter dated July 18 2019, Eastern Railways stopped allotment of rakes to AAPL through which AAPL used to conduct its business of exporting stone aggregates/boulders, and started allotting its rakes to Oriental Exports Pvt. Ltd. AAPL alleged that the directions were issued by the Indian Railway Board pursuant to a request made by the Bangladesh Railway Board. Based on this, AAPL alleged the existence of an ‘anti-competitive agreement’ between the Bangladesh Railway Board and Indian Railway Board which is further being implemented by Eastern Railways. AAPL also alleged that the conduct of Eastern Railways and the Indian Railway Board is in violation of Rule 201(1) and 201(10) of the ICRA Goods Tariff No. 41 i.e. Rules for Registration of Indent and Supply of Wagons (‘Wagon Rules’) and Section 70 of the Railways Act, 1890 (‘Railways Act’) and Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India.

CCI observed that the remedy sought by AAPL pertaining to alleged violations of the Wagon Rules, Railways Act and the Constitution of India lie in other forums. With respect to the re-allocation of supply of rakes, CCI noted that such directions were passed by the Indian Railways Board pursuant to a bilateral agreement between the Indian Railways Board and the Bangladesh Railways Board and therefore, Eastern Railways does not have any incentive to give preferential treatment to a specific entity. Further, inter-governmental bilateral agreements between two sovereign countries cannot be considered as an ‘agreement’ under Section 2(b) of the Act. Accordingly, CCI dismissed the complaint under Section 26(2) of the Act.

[1] Case No. 37 of 2019 (order delivered on February 28, 2020).