Competition Commission of India Imposed Penalty on Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners’ Association

Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed the penalty of 41393 Rupees on Tamil Nadu Film Exhibitors’ Association (TNFEA) (now known as Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners’ Association). The penalty was imposed after the information filed by Reliance Big Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. (RBEPL).
 
Reliance Big Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. (RBEPL) alleged that Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners’ Association contravened the provisions of Section 3 and 4 of the Competition Act, 2002. RBEPL alleged that it was entitled to distribute a film titled Osthe in Tamil language that was a remake of Hindi film Dabang. However, TNFEA boycotted this film with an effort to secure a claim of its members against a third party Sun TV.

CCI in its investigation concluded that the decisions and conduct of TNFEA in respect of the boycott against film Osthe and other films dealt by Sun TV were in contravention of the provisions of Section 3(3) (b).

Therefore, the penalty of 41393 Rupees was imposed at the rate of 10 percent of the average turnover of the Association for the relevant last three years. The penalty should be deposited within 60 days of receipt of the order of penalty. At the same time, CCI also directed TNFEA to cease and desist from indulging in such anti-competitive conduct in future.

About the Competition Act, 2002

• The Competition Act, 2002 was passed by the Parliament in the year 2002, to which the President accorded assent in January, 2003. It was subsequently amended by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2007.
• In accordance with the provisions of the Amendment Act, the Competition Commission of India and the Competition Appellate Tribunal were established.
• The Competition Commission of India is fully functional body with a Chairperson and six members.
• The provisions of the Competition Act relating to anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant position were notified on 20 May 2009.