National Company Law Appellate Tribunal

National Company Law Appellate Tribunal reduces penalty on a soil sample testing company in a bid rigging case

On April 4, 2022, CCI penalised 9 (nine) companies including M/s Toyfort for indulging in a bid rigging cartel in the e-tenders floated by the Department of Agriculture, Government of Uttar Pradesh for soil sample testing, in contravention of Section 3(3) of the Competition Act ("CCI Order"). For a summary of the CCI Order, refer to JSA Competition Law Newsletter for April 2022.

Proceedings before National Company Law Appellate Tribunal ("NCLAT")

Aggrieved, Toyfort challenged the CCI Order before the NCLAT where it inter alia contended that CCI wrongly: (a) found Toyfort guilty due to the familial relations connecting Toyfort with other bidders, M/s Austere System Pvt. Ltd ("Austere System") and Fimo Info Solutions Private Limited ("Fimo"); and (b) imposed penalty on its total turnover as opposed to the relevant turnover.