The Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) has issued notices to Competition Commission of India (CCI), Indian Railways and Steel Authority of India (SAIL), over a complaint filed by Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) against the exclusive agreement between railways and SAIL for supplying rail steel.
The private steelmaker has taken the matter to COMPAT after CCI dismissed its complaint in December last year, saying that the agreement between SAIL and Railways was not anti-competitive.
CCI had said that there was nothing wrong with the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the parties as SAIL had invested R700 crore in setting up an exclusive plant to meet the railways requirement.
The tribunal has given four weeks to the parties to send their replies. During the proceedings, Percival Billimoria, counsel appearing for JSPL submitted that CCI completely ignored the exclusive agreement between the Indian Railways and SAIL. He further submitted 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.
According to JSPL, with 96% market share, SAIL has a dominant and substantial market share for rails in India that are complaint with the specifications of Research Design & Standards Organisation (RDSO) of ministry of railways.
