TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2017 (10) TMI 1639
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.... of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) made under Section 26(1) of The Competition Act, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') expressing prima facie opinion that the Board had restricted production by Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), resulting in denial of marketing access and thus, provisions of Section 4(2) of the Act were attracted. The CCI required the Director General to investigate into the matter and to report to it. The Single Judge was of the opinion that the order made under Section 26 of the Act was not adjudicated and merely an administrative one, in aid of investigation and that it did not entail any adverse consequences. The impugned judgment relied upon the Supreme Court's decision in Competition Co....
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..... These submissions of Mr. Parasaran, really, touch upon the merit of the complaint and proceedings before the Commission. They do not have a bearing on the issue of jurisdiction of the Commission to conduct an investigation and deal with the information furnished by respondent No. 2. These are all defences that the petitioner may raise before the Commission in support of its defence that it is not abusing its position of dominance or that its agreement with respondent No. 2 is not in contravention of the provisions of Section 3(1) of the Act. 18. Section 2(h) of the Act defines the expression 'enterprise' in the following manner: "2(h) "enterprise" means a person or a department of the Government who or which is, or has been, e....
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....ct, the Commission gets jurisdiction under Chapter IV of the Act. 20. The Commission has taken note of Section 54 of the Act, which provides that the Central Government may, by notification, exempt from the application of the Act, or any provision thereof, and for such period as it may specify in such notification, inter alia, "any enterprise which performs a sovereign function on behalf of the Central Government or a State Government" (See Section 54(c)). Pertinently, no notification has been issued by the Central Government in relation to the services rendered by the Indian Railways. Even in relation to an enterprise which is engaged in activity, including an activity relatable to the sovereign function of the Government, the Central Go....
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....ng on of any trade or business and cl. (6) of Art. 19 provides that nothing in sub-clause (g) of clause (1) of that Article shall prevent the State from making any law relating to the carrying on by the State or by a corporation owned-or controlled by the State, of any trade, business, industry or service, whether to the exclusion, complete or partial, of citizens or otherwise. These provisions clearly indicate that the State can carry on business and can even exclude citizens completely or partially from carrying on that business. Running of railways is a business. That is not denied. Private companies and individuals carried on the business of running railways, prior to the State taking them over. The only question then is whether the run....
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....any manner result in adverse consequences or determine the rights and obligations of the parties. The State of Uttarakhand formulated a policy and it is fashioned in such a manner that State officials, vested with exclusive powers of taking decisions to dictate as to what brands of liquor are to be procured and distributed to retailers and sold to the consumers. These functions cannot per se be called a sovereign function. The observations of the learned Single Judge with respect to what constituted a sovereign function by relying upon the judgment in Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board v. A. Rajappa & ors. 1978 AIR 548 and Ashok Harikuni (Supra), are apt. When the State or its agency, who are vested with exclusive rights or monopoly ....