Restrictive trade practice enquiry discharged where no evidence showed the agreement was being used to enforce boycott or coercive undertakings.

Under the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, a notice of enquiry may be discharged where the complaint has effectively been abandoned and no concrete material shows that the agreement is being used to enforce boycott or compel a restrictive undertaking. The agreement dated 10.06.1994 was examined, but it did not confer any power to mandate boycott or force a producer or distributor to sign a restrictive undertaking. In the absence of evidence that the agreement was being acted upon in a manner attracting restrictive trade practice consequences, continuation of the enquiry was unwarranted, and the notice was discharged against all respondents.

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Issues: Whether the notice of enquiry under the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 should be continued on the basis of the agreement dated 10.06.1994, or whether it should be discharged.

Analysis: The complaint had been effectively abandoned by the original complainant, and no concrete instance of continuing abuse of the agreement was shown. The agreement was examined on its terms, but nothing in it was found to confer a power to enforce boycott or to compel a producer or distributor to sign a restrictive undertaking. In the absence of material showing that the agreement was being acted upon in a manner attracting restrictive trade practice consequences, and considering that the parties had lost interest in pursuing the matter, continuation of the enquiry was unwarranted.

Conclusion: The notice of enquiry was discharged against all respondents and the enquiry was closed.

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