ORDER

1. This appeal is directed against order dated 23.06.2015 passed by the Competition Commission of India (for short, the 'Commission') in Case No.45 of 2012, Kerala Cine Exhibitors Association (Respondent No.2 herein) v. Kerala Film Exhibitors Association (Appellant No.1 herein) and four others under Section 27 of the Competition Act, 2002 (for short, the 'Act') whereby Appellant No.1, Film Distributors Association (Kerala) (Respondent No.3 herein) and their office bearers were directed to cease and desist from indulging in anti-competitive practices, as described in the order and penalty was imposedon the appellants and Respondent No.3.

2. At the outset, we consider it necessary to mention that the description of Appellant No. 1, as given in the title of the appeal, is incorrect inasmuch as the said appellant is 'Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation' and the same has been correctly described as such in the information filed by Respondent No. 2, the investigation report, the impugned order and cover-pages of the three volumes of the paper books.

3. Appellant No. 1 and Respondent No. 2 are associations of theatre owners who are engaged in the business of exhibiting the films. Both are registered under the Travancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act, 1955 (for short, the 1955 Act'). While Appellant No. 1 has 315 members, Respondent No. 2 has 171 members. Respondent No.3 is a trade association of film distributors in Kerala. Its main objective is to encourage and develop proper distribution of feature films in the State of Kerala and to safeguard the interest of its members. It is also registered under the 1955 Act and 221 distributors in the State of Kerala are its members. Respondent No.4, Kerala Film Producers Association is a representative body of film producers of Malayalam films. Its main objective is to promote, aid, help, encourage and develop the production of Malayalam films. Respondent No.5, Kerala State Chalachitra Academy is an instrumentality of the State. The Board of Directors of Respondent No.5 comprises of well-known directors, producers, writers, artists and others from the film industry, who are nominated by the State Government along with one of its officer. Respondent No. 6 is the State of Kerala.

4. On 30.07.2012, Respondent No. 2 filed an information under Section 19(1)(a) of the Act with the allegation that Appellant No.1 is in a dominant position in the market of exhibition of films,that it has formed a cartel with Respondent No. 3 and successfully prevented exhibition of new films in the theatres owned by its members despite the fact that they have been classified as Class A or Class B theatres as per the recommendations made by the Committee set-up by Respondent No.5. Respondent No.2 further alleged that abuse of dominant position by Appellant No. 1 is evinced from the fact that if the new films are released in the theatres owned by its members, then those films are not allowed to be released in the theatres owned by the members of Appellant No. 1.The precise nature of the allegations levelled by Respondent No.2 is discernible from paragraphs 6 to 8 of the information, which are reproduced below :

"6. As a matter of fact, the presence of a distributor had lost its relevance as a result of the satellite transmission of films in theatres having digital exhibition facilities. The Film Distributors Association (Kerala) is yet another cartel formed for the purpose of controlling the industry, since producers of films by and large will prefer to entrust the distribution through the Film Distributors Association (Kerala), as they have a net work of their own in the matter of distribution. In the process, the Film Distributors Association (Kerala) is exploiting the laciness of the produces, which too had in turn resulted in formation of another cartel in the film industry by