Summary
The Supreme Court restored a competition appeal dismissed for failure to deposit 10 percent of the penalty as a condition of interim stay. Section 53B then imposed no pre-deposit condition for entertaining the appeal. Non-compliance ended the stay, but did not extinguish the statutory right to a merits decision. The penalty order remained enforceable pending the restored appeal.
Issues
- Whether failure to comply with a deposit condition attached to interim stay authorised dismissal of the statutory appeal itself.
Provisions considered
- Section 53B, as applicable, Competition Act, 2002The provision conferred an appeal without a statutory pre-deposit requirement and required disposal after hearing the parties. A deposit condition attached to stay could not be converted into a condition for maintaining the appeal. (¶¶ 6, 7)
Held
- The 10 percent deposit was a condition of stay, rather than a statutory condition of appeal. Its breach caused the stay to cease, but supplied no jurisdiction to dismiss the main appeal. (¶¶ 5, 6, 7)
- An appeal filed within limitation under the applicable Section 53B was entitled to determination on merits after an opportunity of hearing. The Tribunal, as a statutory body, could not add a pre-deposit bar absent from the provision. (¶¶ 6, 7)
- Ultra Tech Cement recognised the power to grant a conditional stay; it did not decide that breach of such a condition permitted dismissal of the appeal and therefore did not support the Tribunal’s course here. (¶ 8)
Result
Appeal allowed; dismissal of the competition appeal set aside and appeal restored for decision on merits. Stay of the CCI penalty stood vacated for non-deposit and was not restored. No costs.