The public sector oil marketing companies increased diesel prices @ ₹4 per litre w.e.f. 1st December, 2013. All Road Licensed Transport Federation (ARLTF), a registered society since 1970 and a federation of motor transp

In the Given case, All Road Licenced Transport Federation (ARLTF) and its associations are the enterprises within the ambit of the Competition Act. The word enterprise as per definition of the act means a person or a department of the Government, who or which is, or has been engaged in any activity, relating to the production, storage, supply, distribution, acquisition or control of articles or goods and so on. Thus the conduct of the federation and its association come under the purview of horizontal agreement as per section 3(3) of the Act as both the entities are in the similar business in the market. Further, the conduct and relation between the two in particular in the instant case i.e. acceptance and implementation of the arbitrary direction of the federation by the associations to increase to freight to 20 per cent i.e. fixation of price as per section 3(3)(a) of the Act immediately after the increase of 4 per cent hike in diesel price is in no way proportionate to the hike in diesel price and is anti-competitive business practice which is anti to the interests of customers and is harm to the competition in the market. Further, such decision of the federation also has cascading impact through various associations spread across the country in the market setting the chain reaction in motion in the process of distortion. Thus the federation ARLTF through its impugned act/conduct has contravened the provisions of section 3(3)(a) read with section 3(1) of the Act.