Some high profile cases are sub judice before the tribunal including the International Clearing House ("ICH") order of April, 2013 in which the CCP annulled the ICH agreement among all 14 LDI operators and imposed a penalty of Rs 8.3 billion on PTCL, Rs 535 million on WorldCall, and Rs 190 million on Telecard.
Similarly, appeals against the CCP's imposition of penalties worth Rs 5.5 billion on Fauji Fertilizer and Rs 3.14 billion on Engro Fertilizer for abuse of dominance are also being heard by the tribunal. Apart from these, a number of orders passed by the CCP are under litigation in the tribunal and are expected to be decided soon.
As the cases are being heard by the CAT on regular basis which is bringing the CCP one step closer to recover penalties worth billions of rupees, sources said.
The CCP has been empowered under Section 38 of the Competition Act, 2010 to pass orders and impose financial penalties on undertakings that engage in anti-competitive activities. Under Section 42 of the Competition Act, appeals against the final orders of the CCP can be filed with the Competition Appellate Tribunal, whereas the tribunal's decisions can be challenged in the Supreme Court of Pakistan under Section 44 of the Competition Act. Under the law, the Competition Appellate Tribunal will consist of a chairperson who will be a former judge of the high court or Supreme Court judge or a retired Chief Justice of a high court and two technical members. The tribunal became functional on November 30, 2012 with the appointment of two members and kept functioning for about five months and decided one appeal until one of its members resigned in April 2013 and the term of its chairperson expired in April 2013.
After taking charge in December 2014, the incumbent CCP chairperson requested the federal government to appoint the Competition Appellate Tribunal, so that appeals against the CCP's orders are decided. The tribunal became functional with the appointment of its members in mid-2015 and started taking up appeals.
Out of the total 95 appeals, the tribunal has disposed of 44 while 51 are pending adjudication. Out of 44, the tribunal has upheld 14 orders passed by the CCP. In four cases, CAT ruled in favour of the appellants. Sources stated that the lawyers of the CCP regularly appear before the tribunal and other courts to ensure an expeditious disposal of pending cases.Furthermore, the appeals which were filed against the orders under the Competition Commission Ordinance, 2009 before the Supreme Court of Pakistan for over eight years, have been transferred to the Competition Appellate Tribunal for adjudication on merits.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017