On April 23, 2019, NCLAT dismissed an appeal filed by Ashokbhai Manilal Mehta (‘Appellant’) against a CCI order, dismissing the Appellant’s request for an interim relief in relation to the Appellant’s allegations of cartelization against leading presses/printers.[1] CCI had examined the Appellant’s allegations that certain leading presses/printers had rigged the e-bidding process in a tender for textbook printing issued by the Gujarat State Board of School Text Books, Gandhinagar (‘GSBSTB’).[2] While CCI found prima facie merit in the Appellant’s allegations and directed the Director General, CCI to start an investigation, it did not find any merit in the Appellant’s request to cancel the already awarded tenders as an interim relief under Section 33 of the Act. CCI’s decision to reject the request for interim relief was primarily based on the fact that the process of printing had already commenced and cancelling the tender at such a stage would hurt students by disrupting the supply of textbooks.

CCI argued that the appeal should be summarily dismissed because an order initiating an investigation (under Section 26(1) of the Act) was not appealable under the Act. NCLAT dismissed CCI’s argument, stating that the appeal only related to that part of the CCI order which denied grant of interim relief to the Appellant, and such denial was appealable under the Act. Ultimately, NCLAT agreed with CCI’s conclusion on facts and dismissed the appeal.

[1] Competition Appeal (AT) No. 17 of 2019 [2] Case No. 32 of 2018