In a setback for Coal India Ltd, the Supreme Court on Thursday said the Competition Act, 2002, applies to CIL also. The apex court said this while rejecting state-owned CIL’s plea that since the company operates coal mines under the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973, it will not be under the purview of the competition law.
The CIL’s plea was opposed by the CCI.
The case will now be heard on aspects such as the correctness of the penalty levied by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on CIL and other aspects.
In 2014, the CCI held that CIL was in a dominant position in the coal market and abuse its position. The Commission had directed CIL to cease and desist from indulging in anti-competitive practices and make changes in agreements with others. CCI had imposed a penalty of Rs 1,773 crore, which was later reduced to Rs 591 crore in 2017 on COMPAT’s order.
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