Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon have legally challenged the resumption of the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) antitrust investigation against them, Reuters reported on Thursday. This comes days after Karnataka High Court (HC) dismissed their earlier pleas to halt the investigation. Timeline of events January 13, 2020: The CCI launched an investigation in January last year after multiple allegations against Amazon and Flipkart claimed that the firms were violating FDI regulations and are hurting smaller sellers by promoting certain preferred sellers. However, the Karnataka HC stayed this investigation after Amazon and Flipkart challenged it saying the CCI had no evidence that the two companies were harming competition. Since February last year, the investigation has been on hold. October 26, 2020: The Supreme Court refused to hear a plea filed by the CCI, which sought to remove the Karnataka HC-directed stay on its probe against Amazon and Flipkart. Instead, the apex court directed the HC to decide on the matter within six weeks. June 11, 2021: The Karnataka HC dismissed pleas by Amazon and Flipkart to quash the CCI investigation into the business practices of the firms, according to another report by Reuters. Justice PS Dinesh Kumar, while dismissing the petitions by Amazon and Flipkart and refusing them any further relief, was quoted by Reuters as saying, “It would be unwise to prejudge the issues … at this stage and scuttle the investigation.” and refused them any further relief. June 15, 2021: Reuters reported that CCI will expedite the restarted investigation. People familiar with the matter…
