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The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has recently declined an appeal regarding a probe into the supposed collusion by tech giants Ola and Uber, thus upholding the Competition Regulator’s order.
In the past, the CCI had rejected a complaint filed by advocate Samir Agarwal alleging that the two tech giants and cab aggregators used their internal systems and algorithms to fix certain prices. The main contention was that this faulty algorithm reduced the liberty anc chances of the driver to compete with each other individually. The NCLAT declared that there seems to be no merit in the instant allegation at the face of it, too. The tribunal stated that the competition regulator, i.e. the CCI cannot be faulted as there exists no prima facie case.
The Commission observed that when a customer books a ride, it is randomly accepted by an anonymous driver around that geographic area. In this scenario, there is no opportunity to coordinate with the other drivers. Therefore, the CCI declined its investigation as it ruled our collision in the case.
The advocate then appealed to the NCLAT and stated that the competition regulator implied that price fixing in an app is immen from its security which was an erroneous presumption. He quoted similar cases that occurred in the United States against Uber.
Ola and Uber both denied such a claim and NCLAT finally declared that the complainant had no locus standi to file a complaint since he was unable to show that he suffered any loss through Ola and Uber.
The NCLAT said, ‘’we find no legal infirmity in the impugned order. There being no merit in this appeal; it is accordingly dismissed.”
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