On January 29, 2018, the NCLAT allowed an appeal filed by D.V. Rajasekhar against an order of CCI imposing a penalty of ₹ 5,00,000 imposed on him for non-cooperation with the investigation of the Director General (‘DG’). It was alleged that Mr. Rajasekhar had shown aggressive behavior, delayed his scheduled appearance before the DG, failed to provide documents to the DG as promised, and denied access to his emails. CCI accepted the DG’s request to initiate proceedings against Mr. Rajasekhar under Section 43 of the Competition Act and found that Mr. Rajasekhar was attempting to further deny access to the emails. In appeal to the NCLAT, Mr. Rajasekhar was given the opportunity to file an undertaking to provide access to the DG to the disputed documents. The undertaking was filed by Mr. Rajasekhar, and the NCLAT held that subject to compliance to the undertaking, the penalty would be quashed. Taking cognizance that the investigation report had already been filed by the DG, the NCLAT allowed for a supplementary report to be filed by the DG if the new information provided further details.

*Competition Appeal 07 of 2017.