The Supreme Court on Monday has agreed to hear an appeal by Meru Cabs against a decision of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), which had outrightly rejected their allegation against Ola cabs for predatory pricing.
Meru accused Ola of violating the terms of business pricing and competition law. In the year 2017, Meru’s claim was rejected by the Competition Commission of India.
Meru is a Mumbai-based car service company that has accused Ola of the unethical practice of predatory pricing in Bangaluru just to eliminate them from the market as Ola holds a dominant position in the city. Further, the Director-General of the Competition Commission of India investigated the matter and reported that OLA had no dominant position in Bengaluru.
NCLAT upheld the CCI ruling in January 2022, and Meru approached the Apex court.
The counsel of Meru while requesting the bench led by Justice L Nageswara Rao to reconsider the NCLAT’s decision, also said that Ola’s anti-competitive practices were adversely affecting Meru and its employees.
On the counter, The counsel for Ola’s argued by saying that competition law applies only when the prerequisites like the established dominant position of a player in the relevant market were met. The tribunals had in their investigation found that Ola was not even in a dominant position, and abusing the dominant position was out of the question.
The apex court has given a yes for hearing the case and has issued a notice. Further, It has decided to re-check the law pertaining to the abuse of dominant position as stated in the competition law.
