The Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) upheld for the owners’ associations of luxury housing projects over the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) Rs 630 crore penalty on real estate giant DLF.

Gaggar partner Vaibhav Gaggar and advocates Garima Malhotra and Abhimanyu Chopra acted for the Belaire Owners’ Association and for Park Palace in the COMPAT as well as the CCI.

Balbir Singh, a partner at DSK Legal, was acting in a personal capacity as CCI’s counsel assisted by advocates Monica Benjamin and Abhishek Baghel.

In August 2011 the Belaire association had won in the CCI against DLF which, according to the CCI’s order, had abused its dominant market position in Gurgaon to get the association’s members to sign a “highly abusive” apartment buyers agreement, while last month the CCI fined DLF Rs 2.41 crore for not complying with its earlier order.

After hearing DLF’s March 2012 appeal COMPAT, however, asked the CCI to pass another stating the terms on which the Apartment Buyer’s Agreement needed to be modified. Consequently, the CCI passed a supplementary order on January 3 to modify DLF and Belaire’s members’ buyer agreement.

10 days after that order the CCI said that modifications suggested by it to the agreement between DLF and Belaire’s members would also be applicable to the case of Park Palace and Magnolia, as reported then by the PTI.

Advocate RK Khanna acted for Magnolia.

Ravinder Narain & Co senior partner Ravinder Narain with advocates Kanika Gombher, S Banthia and Namita Kaul acted for DLF, having instructed Harish Salve. DLF has said it would approach the Supreme Court against the CCI’s penalty.

Picture by Lime High Rises