New Delhi: In a setback to e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the investigation initiated by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against them for alleged competition law violations.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justices Vineet Saran and Surya Kant observed that it expects big companies to voluntarily go for an inquiry.
“We expect big organizations like Amazon and Flipkart to voluntarily go for enquiry and you don’t want even that? You have to submit and enquiry has to be permitted,” the Bench said.
The apex court dismissed the pleas of Amazon and Flipkart challenging an order of the Karnataka High Court which had allowed CCI to continue its investigation against them for alleged competition law violations in smartphone sales on the two websites.
Saying that CCI enquiry to go on, the bench, however, extended the time by four weeks for e-commerce companies to file reply to CCI notice.
“We see no…