After Flipkart, Amazon moves Supreme Court to seek relief from CCI probe

After Walmart-owned Flipkart, Amazon has also filed a plea in the Supreme Court challenging a Karnataka High Court order to allow antitrust probe against the ecommerce majors to continue, Reuters reported citing source and court listings.

Details of Amazon’s plea were not immediately clear. The Supreme Court website showed the case listing of an appeal, without giving further details, said the Reuters report.

The Karnataka HC last week rejected e-retailers’ plea to quash the antitrust probe ordered against the two companies by Competition Commission of India for alleged violations of provisions of competition laws.

Earlier on Tuesday, Amazon’s rival Flipkart also filed an appeal in the apex court seeking an injunction on the CCI order after the antitrust body asked 32 “sensitive” questions in mid July, in what the firm called an “invasive” investigation.

“The inquiry cannot be crushed at this stage.If the appellants aren’t involved in violations of any provisions of the competition law, they should not feel shy in facing an inquiry by the Competition Commission of India,” a division bench of Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Nataraj Rangaswamy   observed last week.

CCI had ordered the probe in January last year, saying it had “prima facie” evidence to begin an investigation under Section 26 (1) of the Competition Act, 2002. following which both the companies had moved the High Court seeking quashing of the probe order.

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The CCI probe is yet another big hurdle for the ecommerce giants which are already grappling with prospects of tougher e-commerce regulations and accusations by from brick-and-mortar retailers that the companies circumvent Indian law by creating complex business structures.