UltraTech to take tribunal plea to Supreme Court on Monday

India’s Supreme Court will hear UltraTech Cement's plea challenging an order issued by the Competition Appellate’s Tribunal (COMPACT) on 17 May 2013 instructing the cement companies charged with cartel practices to pay 10 per cent of the penalty imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) last year.

Following an appeal from several cement companies against the CCI’s record fine of INR6.3bn issued in June 2012, the tribunal ordered the cement producers to pay the 10 per cent within 30 days otherwise their appeal against the fine will be dismissed.

The apex court's bench of Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra and Justice Madan B. Lokus agreed to UltraTech Cement's plea for an urgent hearing of its petition against the tribunal's order.    

India's anti-trust body Competition Commission of India had imposed the fine on cement producers including UltraTech, stating that hey had formed a cartel, through cement manufacturers association, and manipulated the cement prices. The commission also ordered the companies to "cease and desist" from such practices in future.

The tribunal had stayed the Competition Commission's penalty order while saying that the order to cement companies to cease and desist will continue.