(PTI)
The Competition Commission has dismissed a complaint alleging unfair business practices against oil marketing companies — IOCL, BPCL and HPCL — with regard to terms and conditions in the tenders for transportation of liquified petroleum gas through tank trucks.
In an order, the fair trade regulator said “no case of contravention under Section 3 or Section 4 of the (Competition) Act” is made out against Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL). While Section 3 pertains to anti-competitive agreements, Section 4 relates to abuse of dominant market position.
The complainants, whose identities were not revealed by the CCI, had challenged the alleged anti-competitive terms and conditions in the notice inviting tenders floated “identically/ jointly/ parallelly” in different states by IOCL, BPCL and HPCL (Opposite Parties) for the transportation of bulk liquefied petroleum gas by road through tank trucks from the loading point to the unloading point. Among others, it was alleged that the firms had introduced identical price band in the tenders within which the bidders were forced to quote.
