Supreme Court directs Karnataka High Court to hear competition cases against Amazon, Flipkart

In a significant development, the Supreme Court of India has directed that all competition-related cases against e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart be heard by the Karnataka High Court, as per reports.

A bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan stated in a report, "It will be appropriate if all the petitions which are the subject matter of this transfer petition are transferred for hearing to the High Court of Karnataka."

The bench further clarified that if pleadings in some cases remain incomplete, the judge handling the matter will grant reasonable time to complete them.

The directive comes after Attorney General R Venkataramani informed the Supreme Court that five petitions had been filed across various High Courts following the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) investigation order. These High Courts include Allahabad, Madras, Telangana, Punjab, and Haryana, Delhi, and Karnataka.

To ensure consistency and avoid legal confusion, the Supreme Court stayed proceedings in the other High Courts and instructed the Karnataka High Court to commence hearings from January 15.

The CCI had initially sought the transfer of all cases to either the Supreme Court or the Delhi High Court, arguing that parallel proceedings could lead to contradictory rulings. The investigation by the CCI was initiated based on a complaint filed by the Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh, representing numerous smartphone and accessories traders.

Amazon and Flipkart had challenged the CCI's probe order by filing separate petitions in multiple High Courts. With this consolidation, the Karnataka High Court will now act as the sole judicial forum for adjudicating these critical competition cases.