Competition Commission of India Vs Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation & Ors. (Supreme Court of India)
The case concerns interpretation of provisions under the Competition Act, 2002. The statutory appeal under Section 53T was filed by the Competition Commission of India (the Commission) against the order dated 19.04.2016 of the Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT). While COMPAT upheld the Commission’s finding that the Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation (KFEF) violated Section 3(1) read with Section 3(3)(b) of the Act, it set aside the penalties imposed on two office-bearers—Respondent No.2 (President) and Respondent No.3 (General Secretary)—and also set aside certain behavioural directions. The Commission appealed that portion of the COMPAT order.
The dispute originated from information filed by Crown Theatre (Respondent No.4) alleging anti-competitive actions by KFEF and its office bearers, stating that distributors were threatened that their films would not be screened in KFEF member theatres if they dealt with Crown Theatre. It was further alleged that new Tamil and Malayalam films were deliberately prevented from being screened at Crown Theatre and that KFEF called for a strike/ban on its members. Crown Theatre subsequently resigned from KFEF. Following an order dated 08.05.2014, the Commission directed the Director General (DG) to investigate, including the conduct of office-bearers.
