Flipkart moves Supreme Court to seek relief from CCI's investigation

Walmart-owned Flipkart has moved the Supreme Court to seek relief from an investigation from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) after the division bench of the Karnataka High Court dismissed its petition.

Taking a leaf from Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal's recent remark, the Karnataka High Court in its 156-page long order had said that the court failed to understand why Amazon and Flipkart did not want to participate in the enquiry by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) adding that the anti-trust body was just asking for "inquisitorial departmental proceedings".

It also stated that in case the companies were not involved in any violation, they should not feel shy in facing an enquiry.

While the judgement was pronounced on July 23, the copy of the detailed order got published on July 26. Flipkart was waiting for the copy to be uploaded before reaching out to the Supreme Court.

"As highlighted earlier, we have a very robust compliance and governance process and remain in full compliance with Indian laws. We will do everything to be always compliant," said a Flipkart Group Spokesperson. Amazon is also expected to file its appeal soon.

This was the second time that the high court had gone against India's biggest e-commerce players. The two had earlier challenged a single-judge bench order allowing the antitrust body to continue its investigation against the two marketplaces under Section 3 of the Competition Act that deals with anti-competitive agreements.