The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has imposed a stay on the orders passed by the fair trade regulator CCI slapping penalties on several beer makers, including United Breweries Ltd that faces a fine of Rs 751.8 crore.
Passing an interim order, a two-member NCLAT bench has directed parties, including United Breweries Ltd, to deposit 10 per cent of the penalty amount by way of Fixed Deposit Receipt’ within three weeks.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on September 24, 2021, imposed penalties totalling over Rs 873 crore on UBL, Carlsberg India, All India Brewers’ Association (AIBA) and 11 individuals for cartelisation in the sale and supply of beer.
The said order was challenged before the NCLAT, which is an appellate authority over the CCI. It hears appeals against any direction issued or decision made or order passed by the CCI.
“… during the pendency of the Appeal, to prevent an aberration of justice and to secure the ends of justice, stays the impugned order dated 24.09.2021 in suo moto case no. 6/2017 subject to the payment of 10 per cent of the penalty amount levied by the first Respondent/CCI, by way of Fixed Deposit Receipt’ to and in favour of the Registrar, NCLAT, New Delhi, within three weeks from the date of passing of this order,” said an NCLAT order passed on December 23.
The NCLAT has also directed the CCI and the All India Brewers Association to file replies over the notices issued by it.
The appellate tribunal has directed to list the matter on March 29, 2022, for admission.
Confirming the development, UBL in a regulatory filing said it received an order passed by the NCLAT, staying the CCI order upon a condition of pre-deposit of 10 per cent of the penalty amount imposed on the company.
“The company will comply with the directions and the said 10% amount shall be deposited through a fixed deposit receipt within stipulated time as mentioned in the Order,” UBL had said, now controlled by Dutch-based multinational Heineken.
Earlier this year, Heineken had acquired additional ordinary shares in UBL on June 23 taking its shareholding in the company from 46.5 per cent to 61.5 per cent.
The CCI had passed the final order against United Breweries Ltd (UBL), SABMiller India Ltd, now renamed as Anheuser Busch InBev India Ltd (AB InBev), and Carlsberg India Private Ltd (CIPL), among other entities.
In its 231-page order, which had come nearly four years after ordering a detailed probe, the CCI had also directed the companies, associations and individuals to “cease and desist” from anti-competitive practices in the future.
The period of cartelisation was considered to be from 2009 to at least October 10, 2018, with Carlsberg India joining in from 2012 and AIBA serving as a platform for facilitating such cartelisation since 2013. All three beer companies were lesser penalty applicants before the regulator.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
For all the latest Business News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsBit.us is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
