The Delhi High Court on Tuesday, hearing the petition of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), directed the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to “expeditiously” decide on allegations of misrepresentation by Amazon when the company sought approval for its investment in Future Coupons Private Limited (FCPL) in 2019.

The bench of Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh directed CCI to expedite the matter and issue a decision within the next two weeks on the show-cause notice issued to Amazon on the point of CCI’s revocation of approval, which FCPL has contested. They further added that the CCI’s decision should be based on the rules, laws, and government policies that apply to the facts of the case and that the parties should be given an opportunity to be heard.

According to CAIT’s petition, CCI issued a show-cause notice to Amazon on June 4. However, more than 235 days have passed and CCI has yet to make a decision, as reported by ANI. CAIT stated that it is protecting the interests of 6,000 traders who supplied goods to the Future group for Rs 10,000 crore and seeks to recover the money from the group. CAIT has urged that traders will not be made scapegoats or suffer financial losses in the midst of these corporate giants’ disputes.

CAIT stated in a press release that Amazon’s claim to control Future Retail Limited (FRL) through their investment in FCPL is illegal because no foreign firm may own or control a multi-brand retailer like FRL. Amazon allegedly obtained CCI approval for its investment in FCPL through deceit, fraud, misrepresentation, and false representation. CAIT further asserted that, if such misrepresentations are permitted to continue, every company will distort the facts of transactions in order to obtain CCI’s approval and then carry out a separate transaction disguised as one approved by CCI.