VINEET KUMAR (INFORMANT) VS. MINISTRY OF CIVIL AVIATION (MOCA) (RESPONDENT)

Appeal No.              : 18 of 2013

Date of decision   : 06/08/2013

Act Applicable      : The Competition Act, 2002

BRIEF FACTS OF THE CASE

1. The Information was filed by Informant who claim to be a public spirited citizen to protect and promote the interests of the passengers who use air transport services in India against Respondent (MOCA) alleging inter alia contravention of the provisions of section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002.
2. The Respondent constituted a committee named as ‘the Aircraft Acquisition Committee (AAC)’ to consider and examine the applications/ proposals for providing air transport services. 
3. Informant alleged that MOCA was going slow in allowing private airlines to import more aircrafts, which raised question about the roles of the Respondent in the investment and financial decisions of market participants. The Informant also alluded to a news item which reported that a Delhi based low-cost private airlines which had sought permission from AAC for import of 16 aircraft during this current calendar to add to its fleet, was instead permitted to import only 5 aircrafts.
4. The informant made detailed reference to the various clauses of the impugned guidelines to contend that the same were violative of the provisions of section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002.

CONCLUSION

After the initial examination CCI observed that as per the subjects allocated to MOCA the activities and functions of MOCA essentially include inter alia regulation of civil aviation sector and formulation of policy for the civil aviation sector. These activities of MOCA cannot be considered as commercial activities as implied in the definition of the term ‘enterprise’ as defined in section 2 (h) of the Competition Act, 2002. For the reasons noted above, it is not necessary to further dilate on this aspect

     DECISION 

    The information was not maintainable and deserved to be closed.