The Competition
Appellate Tribunal has served notices to the CCI (Competition Commission of India) and the BAI ( Builders Association
of India), on whose complaint the former had imposed a penalty of Rs. 6,307
crore on 11 cement companies.
The Competition
Appellate Tribunal, during the hearing of an appeal by cement firms such as
UltraTech and ACC, asked the CCI not to take any coercive action in the matter
till October 11, 2012
The cement companies
had approached the Competition Appellate Tribunal to quash the CCI order on
cartelisation. They had also requested for an interim stay on the fine till the
tribunal decides on their petitions.
10 out of 11 cement
companies penalised for cartelisation had approached the Competition Appellate
Tribunal for a redressal last week.
In June, 2012 the CCI
had imposed a fine of Rs. 6,307 crore on top 10 firms and CMA (Cement
Manufacturers’ Association) companies for cartelisation.
All the 11 companies
were fined 0.5% of their average profit
for fiscal years 2010 & 2011, the
period for which they were investigated.
The major firms which
were imposed a penalty included ACC, Ambuja Cements, UltraTech Cement and
Jaiprakash Associates, which were fined in excess of Rs. 1,000 crore each.
The anti-trust
watchdog CCI, in its unanimous decision by all 6 members and Chairman Ashok
Chawla, also fined lobby group CMA a token amount.
The commission
investigated about 40 cement companies on a complaint filed by the BAI, a lobby
group of engineering & construction contractors.
Directive to CMA
The CCI had asked the
firms to deposit the fine amount in the next 3 months. It had also directed the
CMA to stop collecting information about prices, dispatches & products and
circulating it among its members.
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