In a stern warning to real estate operators adopting unfair trade practices, the Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with an order passed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and upheld by the Competition Commission Appellate Tribunal imposing Rs.630 crore penalty on DLF Ltd. A Bench of Justices Ranjana Desai and N. V. Ramana directed DLF to pay Rs.50 crore in three weeks in the Supreme Court Registry and the balance amount of Rs.580 crore within three months. In so far as payment of 9 per cent interest was concerned, the bench said it would be determined at the time of disposal of the appeal. The bench, after hearing senior counsel Harish Salve for DLF and senior counsel Amit Sibal for the Competition Commission, directed DLF to file a fresh undertaking that in the event of dismissal of the appeal it would pay such amount as directed by the court.
The Belaire Owners’ Association, comprising apartment allottees of a Belaire Building Complex in DLF City, Phase-V, Gurgaon, in its petition before the CCI alleged that DLF had used its position of strength in dictating the terms by which while on the one hand it had excluded itself from any obligations and liabilities, on the other hand it had put the apartment allottees in extremely disadvantageous conditions.
The Commission, in August 2011, slapped a penalty at the rate of 7 per cent of average turnover of DLF, namely, about Rs.9,000 crore and fixed the penalty at Rs.630 crore with 9 per cent interest. This was confirmed by the Tribunal. The present appeal by DLF was directed against this order.
