CCI gives verdict in favour of the government bodies
In a case related to the development of the Kochi metro rail project, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has given a verdict in favour of the government bodies. The CCI has rejected the charges of unfair trade practices against Ministry of Urban Development, Delhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC) and Kochi Metro Rail Ltd.
A complaint filed with the CCI had alleged that the entities were abusing their dominant position due to their status of being government bodies. They were incorporating unfair and discriminatory conditions in a qualification criterion for a tender for a project. This tender was related to the designing, manufacturing, supplying, testing, commissioning and training of standard gauge cars for the Kochi metro.
On Thursday CCI released an order and clarified that no case of contravention of the provisions of the (Competition) Act is made out against the opposite parties and the information is ordered to be closed with immediate effect.
DMRC and Kochi Metro Rail had signed an agreement for the execution of the first phase of the Kochi metro rail project. As per the complaint, the alleged parties (Ministry of Urban Development, Delhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC) and Kochi Metro Rail Ltd) had called for the tender and later had modified the terms which eventually changed the nature of the pre-qualification criteria.
Few bidders, who had purchased the tender documents as per the original norms and fitted in the qualification criteria, however got disqualified after the changes in the criteria. As per the complaint, many bidders across the world got excluded and disqualified. However as per the verdict from CCI, these allegations were baseless.
Source- The Economic Times
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