Delhi High Court issued notice to CCI and Swiggy regarding exclusion of NRAI from confidentiality circle

Food delivery giant Swiggy and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Wednesday, November 6, issued a notice to the Delhi High Court in connection with a petition filed by the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) against the lifting of its privacy clause. ring.

NRAI was originally part of a confidentiality framework that reportedly grants access to classified and confidential information to people nominated by parties during proceedings before the competition watchdog.

The CCI reportedly introduced the concept in April 2022 to enable corporates to share business information with the competition watchdog.

After hearing the case, Justice Sanjeev Narula on Wednesday fixed the matter for next hearing on January 21, 2025, Bar and Bench reported.

Advocate Abir Roy, appearing for NRAI, told the High Court that the DG’s report has already been received and “we have to file our objections against it.”

However, it was stated that this would not have been possible unless they were given access to “confidential documents provided by Swiggy”.

Swiggy and CCI had argued in court that the suit filed by NRAI was against confidentiality rules, the report said.

During the hearing, Roy asked for the case to be heard as soon as possible as the deadline for filing objections was fast approaching. However, the court postponed the hearing of the case until January next year.

Swiggy filed a case in the Karnataka High Court in May this year, challenging the CCI’s order granting NRAI officials access to sensitive information about the food delivery giant.

Listening to this matter The Supreme Court returned it to the CCIrequesting that the matter be decided afresh, the Bar report said.

Subsequently, the CCI issued an order and excluded NRAI from the circle of confidentiality. This forced the association to appeal the decision in the Delhi High Court.

In 2021, NRAI provided information on anti-competitive behavior of food delivery companies such as Swiggy and Zomato in front of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In 2022, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry established by its resolution that a criminal case had been opened against them. As a result, he directed the Director General to investigate the allegations made by NRAI.

The CEO reportedly completed an investigation into the matter in March this year.

Meanwhile, Swiggy and Zomato even filed applications to access a confidential version of the CEO’s investigation findings. Apart from these, NRAI has also sought access to a confidential version of the investigation report.