SC shifts e-comm cases to Karnataka HC

The Supreme Court has transferred to the Karnataka High Court (HC) all petitions challenging the Competition Commission of India's (CCI's) probe into alleged anti-competitive practices by e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart.

- Krishna Yadav

On Monday, a bench of justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan directed the Karnataka High Court to hear the cases expeditiously.

The order came after both the CCI and e-commerce sellers on the two platforms agreed to transfer the cases as the Karnataka High Court had already been hearing the matter. The CCI had filed a plea seeking the consolidation of all petitions challenging its investigation into Amazon and Flipkart, and the transfer of these cases to a single high court.

CCI's petitions were filed against Amazon-owned Cloudtail India Pvt. Ltd and other entities. These companies had filed writ petitions in various high courts, challenging the CCI's antitrust probe into the two e-commerce giants, which later expanded to include the sellers.