Gubba Cold Private Ltd Vs Vishakapatnam Port Logistics Park Ltd (Competition Commission of India)
The Commission notes that the alleged conduct of OPs of the lease agreement camouflaged as a ‘Leave and License Agreement’ for the purpose of avoiding stamp duty and registration charges to the State exchequer is not a competition issue and does not fall within the four corners of the Competition Act, 2002. Furthermore, other alleged actions against the OPs viz enforcement of the ‘lock-in-period’ clause in the Leave and Licence Agreement, refusal by the OPs to adjust the rental arrears against the security deposit, threat to the Informant to forfeit the security deposit due to premature termination of tenancy and non-compliance with the ‘lock-in-period’ clause, stopping access of Informant’s staff to the cold storage plant and threatening to cut off the power supply to the cold storage plant appear to be in the nature of inter se dispute between the parties. These alleged actions do not appear to give rise to competition concerns as envisaged within the provisions of the Competition Act, 2002.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF COMPETITION COMMISSION OF INDIA
1. The instant Information has been filed by Gubba Cold Private Ltd. (“Informant”) alleging contravention of provisions of Sections 3 and 4 of the Competition Act, 2002 (“Act”) by Vishakapatnam Port Logistics Park Limited, Kolkata (“Opposite Party No.1/OP-1”) and Vishakapatnam Port Logistics Park Limited, Vishakapatnam (“Opposite Party No.2/OP-2”) (hereinafter, OP-1 and OP-2 are collectively referred to as ‘OPs’).
