Flipkart’s online sellers take legal action against CCI

As per news source, Indian antitrust watchdog - Competition Commission of India (CCI) has been sued by three online sellers operating on Walmart-owned Flipkart over an investigation which found Flipkart and rival Amazon breached competition laws  

The filings come after the completion of the antitrust investigation in August which determined that Amazon, Flipkart, certain sellers, and smartphone brands breached local competition laws by providing preferential treatment to specific online sellers and prioritizing certain product listings.

To halt the critical proceedings, the three sellers on the platform filed petitions in the Karnataka High Court to dismiss the investigation report and suspend the process initiated by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

Lawsuits from sellers of Amazon and Flipkart can potentially delay the investigation process which first started in 2020, and was triggered after brick-and-mortar retailers of the Confederation of All India Traders complained to the watchdog. Amazon and Flipkart deny any wrongdoing.

CIGFIL Retail, Wishery Online, Xonique Ventures are the three Flipkart sellers and the companies in their lawsuits argue that during the investigation they were called to submit data to help officials, but were later named as accused, which is against due process, court papers show.

"The alleged investigation ... is arbitrary, opaque, unfair," the sellers argued in three separate court filings, which will come up for hearing likely next week.

Last week, a former Amazon seller also sued the CCI and obtained an interim injunction to block the investigation from proceeding. Its court filing - which Reuters has seen - argued the CCI did not give notice before making it an accused in the case.