CCI Dismisses Allegations of Abuse of Dominance against Uppal Chadha Hi-Tech Developers Pvt Ltd

On October 29, 2020, CCI dismissed two sets of information filed against Uppal Chadha Hi-Tech Developers Pvt Ltd, (‘UCHDPL’) and its director, alleging contravention of the provisions of the CA02. [1]

The informants alleged that UCHDPL had imposed unfair and discriminatory conditions concerning allotment of plots in the Wave City Township Project. UCHDPL had allegedly also imposed unfair and discriminatory conditions by seeking payments related to allotment over a span of 15 years, without completing the project and imposed arbitrary one-sided clauses via offer of allotment.

CCI delineated the relevant market as the market for “the provision of services for development and sale of plots of land for residential use in Ghaziabad region” and observed that several real estate developers, such as Unitech, Supertech, Eldeco, Amrapali Group and Omaxe operated in the relevant market. The presence of such developers indicated that the buyers had options to choose from in the relevant market and UCHDPL could not be said to possess the market power to enable it to act independently of competitive forces prevailing in the relevant market.

Thus, CCI found that UCHDPL was not in a dominant position in the relevant market and no further assessment was required to be undertaken in relation to the alleged abuses. A closure order was accordingly passed by the CCI.

 

[1] Case Nos. 31 & 33 of 2020, order dated October 29, 2020