Key Points
The NCLAT on Tuesday set aside a CCI order, imposing a penalty of Rs 38.05 crore on 18 sugar mills and two trade associations in 2018 in a case related to a joint tender floated by oil marketing companies for procurement of ethanol for blending with petrol..
The appellate tribunal said the order passed by the fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India "suffers from illegality" and "does not comply with the requirement of adherence to the principle of natural justice"...
The quorum of CCI that heard the final arguments did not pass the necessary orders within a reasonable period of time, and by the time, the orders were pronounced in the case, one member was not present in at least four later hearings, and two members had demitted office, and therefore they did not participate in the decision making nor sign and authenticate the final order, said the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT)...
"Such an inordinate delay in passing the order made it inform as the members would not be able to recall all the oral arguments from their memory, and further due to the passage of time some members retired, which meant that the order was passed by only three members as against five members who heard the case on all the dates, which made the order non est due to such basic infirmities," said a bench comprising Justice Rakesh Kumar and Alok Srivastava...
However, setting aside the CCI order, the NCLAT said, "The Impugned Order suffers from the illegality of a smaller body of members signing and pronouncing the final order than the body of members that heard the case and the inordinate delay in pronouncing the judgments - with both the reasons having struck at the spirit of the principle of natural justice"...
