CCI says no abuse of dominant position by Ansal in Punjab

NEW DELHI: Fair trade regulator CCI has rejected allegations of abuse of dominant market position against Ansal Township and Land Development with regard to the realty company's commercial project in Jalandhar, Punjab.

Competition Commission of India (CCI) held that no prima facie case was made out against Ansal for causing a probe by the Director General (investigations) as the company did not appear to be in a dominant position in the relevant market.

The complaint filed by an individual was against Ansal Township and Land Development, its managing director Pranav Ansal and joint managing director & CEO Anil Kumar.

It was alleged that Ansal had abused its dominant position with regard to allotment of commercial space in its project 'Ansal Highway Plaza' which is a shopping mall in Jalandhar.

As per the complainant, among other things, Ansal without giving any prior notice to the allottees and proper reason had illegally shut down the shopping mall in March, 2011.

In an order dated April 15, the watchdog said that the "presence of large number of players in the relevant market itself indicates that the consumers have choice and are not solely dependent on opposite party no 1 (Ansal)".

"Since the opposite party no 1 does not appear to be in a dominant position in the relevant market, the question of abuse of dominant position by it does not arise," the CCI added.

As per the order, the relevant market in this case has been defined as "the market of the services for development and sale of commercial space in shopping malls in the geographical area Jalandhar".