Case No. 21 of 2022, Indian Steel Association v. Bhadrasahi/ Guali Truck Association and Ors

Background

On June 9, 2026, the CCI held four associations of truck operators in the mining districts of Odisha to be in contravention of Sections 3(3)(a) and 3(3)(b) read with Section 3(1) of the Act, directed them to cease and desist, and left the quantum of penalty open until the parties file their financial details.

Parties

The Indian Steel Association (‘ISA/Informant’), registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and founded in 2014, has eight executive members who are steel manufacturers and 10 affiliate members. The Opposite Parties are the Bhadrasahi/ Guali Truck Association (‘OP-1’), the Bonai Truck and Tipper Owners’ Association (‘OP-2’), the Keonjhar District Truck Owners’ Association (‘OP-3’), and the Joda Truck Owners’ Association (‘OP-4’), which was added as a party by Order dated March 8, 2024. Iron ore and other raw materials move out of the Odisha Mining Corporation and merchant mines almost entirely by road, since railway rakes are in short supply near the mines.

Allegations

ISA alleged three restrictions. Firstly, the associations issued their own freight rate charts and fixed rates above the ceiling notified by the State Transport Authority (‘STA’). Secondly, they refused to let independent transporters lift raw material from the mines unless the trucks were registered with them or an entry fee was paid. Thirdly, they confined haulage to 6 and 10 wheeler trucks as opposed to 12, 14, and 16 wheeler trucks, so that more trips were needed for the same tonnage. The Commerce and Transport Department of Odisha had notified maximum freight rates on September 7, 2017, and authorised the STA to revise them with movements in diesel prices, which it did on July 6, 2021, October 29, 2021, December 2, 2021, and April 2, 2022. For a 10-wheeler trip from Guali to Deojhar, against an STA rate of INR 240 per ton, Bhadrasahi/ Guali Truck Association charged INR 515 per ton.

Investigation by DG

The DG submitted its report on December 12, 2023. The DG found the OPs guilty of the first two allegations. It gathered rate charts, circulars and resolutions issued by each association, including Keonjhar District Truck Owners’ Association’s letters of March 4, 2021, June 12, 2021, and July 8, 2021, revising freight for the OMC Gandhamardan to JSPL Chhendipada route and asking transporters to confirm their willingness so as to avoid further action. On the Jajang Iron Ore Block to Jaroli route between July 2021 and March 2023, the STA rate for a 12-wheeler was INR 4.20 per km while the associations charged INR 25.29, which is 502 percent higher. Several revisions were issued in periods when diesel prices had fallen or stayed flat. Joda Truck Owners’ Association produced an undated rate chart recording a joint meeting on March 17, 2019, with Keonjhar District Truck Owners’ Association and the Barbil Truck Owners’ Association at which pricing for the Paradeep port route was settled collectively. Shri Ramakant Nayak, ex-President of Keonjhar District Truck Owners’ Association, admitted that independent transporters and those registered with other associations were kept out because the local fleet of 8,000 to 10,000 trucks already met demand.

The third allegation failed. Apart from one route, no 12-wheeler was in use, but the DG found no resolution, circular or minute restricting vehicle capacity, no third-party complaint on the point, and no definition from ISA of what counted as a smaller vehicle. The DG also named 12 individuals as liable under Section 48 of the Act.

Submissions by OPs

Bhadrasahi/ Guali Truck Association, Keonjhar District Truck Owners’ Association, Joda Truck Owners’ Association, and Shri Susanta Kumar Barik, an individual of Joda Truck Owners’ Association, submitted that the DG had proceeded on presumption and selective inference without establishing a meeting of minds, an enforcement mechanism, or market-wide uniformity. They described themselves as welfare and coordination bodies of small truck owners rather than price setting enterprises, said that STA rates function only as a ceiling so that variation from them proves nothing, and pointed to mine-gate restrictions, weighbridge congestion, permit requirements, poor roads, and detention at ports as costs the STA formula does not capture. Registration with a local association was explained as queue management involving token allocation, document verification, and mine-pass integration, with dispatch control resting largely with mine operators and the local administration. They further submitted that no AAEC had been shown and that Bhadrasahi/ Guali Truck Association, Keonjhar District Truck Owners’ Association, and Joda Truck Owners’ Association had no functioning executive body after August 2022. Bonai Truck and Tipper Owners’ Association neither responded to summons nor appeared at any stage.

CCI’s Findings

The CCI held that an agreement under the Act need not be written and may be inferred from conduct. The rate charts, circulars, and resolutions on the associations’ letterheads, signed by their office bearers, showed that rates were fixed and revised through meetings and joint deliberations, and that member transporters, who are competing enterprises under Section 2(h), had agreed among themselves to charge those rates. Threats of action against transporters who charged above or below the association rate showed that the rates were binding rather than recommendatory. The plea that STA rates do not reflect real world costs was rejected: whether the ceiling is realistic or not, the decision on freight belongs to each transporter individually. The conduct therefore fell within Section 3(3)(a).

On market access, the CCI found that the requirement to register with the association or pay an entry fee went beyond procedure and foreclosed non-members, with resolutions granting exclusivity or priority to registered trucks on designated routes and third parties confirming that 20 percent of transport volume had to be given to association trucks at higher freight. Administrative coordination in a mining belt cannot be used to keep competitors out, particularly where the requirement is mandatory and no transparent or non-discriminatory framework exists. The conduct therefore fell within Section 3(3)(b). On the third issue, the CCI agreed with the DG that no agreement to restrict vehicle capacity had been established, and held that no contravention was made out.

The CCI went on to fix liability under Section 48 on the presidents and secretaries of each association for their respective tenures, including Shri Sunil Dutta and Shri Purusottam Barik of Bhadrasahi/ Guali Truck Association, Shri Sanjay Dash and Shri Bijay Thakur of Bonai Truck and Tipper Owners’ Association, Shri Ram Chandra Bhuiyan, Shri Pradeep Kumar Barik, Shri Rama Kant Nayak, and Shri Surya Narayan Kar of Keonjhar District Truck Owners’ Association, and Shri Bhakta Bandhu Mahanta, Shri Rabinarayan Das, Shri Mata Prasad Jaiswal, and Shri Susanta Kumar Barik of Joda Truck Owners’ Association.

A cease and desist direction was issued under Section 27(a). Penalty was deferred because neither the associations nor their individuals filed the financial details called for by the Order dated March  8,  2024, though the CCI, given the socio-economic realities of the region, refrained for the present from initiating separate proceedings on that count. It also recorded that any repetition of the conduct would be treated as recidivism, with consequences for the office bearers in their personal capacity. In view of the final Order, the interim relief sought under Section 33 did not survive.