Shivani Gadhavi
Published On: December 24, 2021
The South Chemists and Distributors Association (SCDA) filed a Writ Petition against the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in the Delhi High Court regarding the inaction of CCI and SEBI in regards with the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the parent company of PharmEasy- API Holdings.
Pertaining to this matter, the Delhi High Court issued notices directing CCI and SEBI to be present in the Court on January 13, 2022 for the hearing of the Case. Other Respondents in the Case are – The Union Government, API Holdings and Docon Technologies.
The Petition lleged, “…the Respondent No. 2 (CCI) cannot abdicate its functions under the Competition Act, 2002. The failure of the Respondent No. 2 to inquire into the combination of Thyrocare Technologies Ltd. with API Holdings Ltd. through Docon Technologies is contrary to Law and affects the interests of the Petitioner, consumers and general investors.”
The Petitioner sought an inquiry by the CCI into working of API Holdings, which took a controlling stake over the Thyrocare Technologies via Docon Technologies under the Competition Act, 2002. It also sought for rejection of the Draft Red Herring Prospectus of API Holdings by SEBI.
The Petition states that the combination of Thyrocare Technologies with API Holdings was not notified under the CCI which is mandatory under Section 6(2) of the Competition Act, 2002. The Petition read, “Because even if an entity fails to notify the CCI, it has the power to undertake suo moto inquiry as per Section 20 of the Competition Act.”