CCI dismisses complaint of abuse against Haryana agriculture department

The Competition Commission has dismissed a complaint alleging abuse of dominance against Haryana government's Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare with regard to stipulations in a tender for testing soil.

According to a CCI order, the department floated a tender in April for outsourcing of soil testing, data entry on portal and printing of cards under the Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme of the Indian government. The tender involves testing of eight lakh soil samples.

The complaint related to an alleged infraction of the provisions of Section 4 of the Competition Act by the purported "unfair conditions/ clauses" imposed by the department in the stipulations of the tender.

Section 4 pertains to abuse of dominant market position.

For the case, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) considered the "market for the provision of soil testing services in the Territory of India" as the relevant one.

Noting that the department "does not have a dominant position" in the relevant market, the CCI said that the case does not fall within the ambit of the provisions of Section 4 of the Act.

Accordingly, the regulator dismissed the complaint.

"The Commission has held in several previous cases that it is the prerogative of the procurer to decide the tender conditions/technical specifications/ conditions/ clauses in the tender document as per its requirements," the CCI said in the order dated August 30.

The commission holds that no case is made out against the department for making a reference to the Director-General for conducting an investigation into the matter, it added.

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