SAIL has moved a plea in the COMPAT against a petition by JSPL challenging the Competition Commission of India ruling in a matter related to supply of rails.

In its plea, Steel Authority of India Ltd has said that the petition filed by JSPL against the order of the Competition Commission of India is non-maintainable, while contending that there was no provision of appeal against closure of such cases by the CCI in the Competition Act.

During the proceedings of the tribunal, counsel appearing for JSPL sought time to file reply over SAIL's application. It was accepted by the Competition Appellate Tribunal bench headed by chairman Justice V S Sirpurkar for the third week of November.

The tribunal granted four weeks time to JSPL for filing reply and two weeks time to SAIL for its rejoinder.

JSPL had approached the COMPAT in July against the CCI, which had closed its complaint on December 20, 2011 saying there was nothing wrong in the supply pact between the Railways and SAIL.

The COMPAT also issued notices to the Indian Railways (IR) and SAIL on July 17 asking them to file replies and had listed the matter for today.

In its order the CCI had said that" The Commission finds that the MoU between the SAIL and IR is not anti-competitive and does not lead to foreclose of the market. The Commission closes the case."

JSPL had alleged that the CCI completely ignored the exclusive agreement between the Indian Railways and SAIL.

According to JSPL, there was abuse of dominance by SAIL which has denied market access to JSPL by entering into an exclusive supply agreement with the Indian Railways on February, 2003.

With 96 per cent market share, SAIL has a dominant and substantial market share for rails in India that are compliant with the specifications of Research Design & Standards Organisation of Ministry of Railways, JSPL submitted before the COMPAT.

The CCI, in its report, had said there was nothing wrong in having a long-term relationship and that major automobile firms also source their intermediate inputs with long-term relationship.

CCI had said in its order that "The MoU has not hindered competition in the rail market. The allegation that SAIL as a dominant player has strategised to create entry barriers by locking IR into a long term agreement is not borne out by the available evidences.”

Source - Money Control

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