UNDER SECTION 26(2) OF COMPETITION ACT 2002

1. The instant information has been filed by the informant on 15.2.2010 under section 19 of the Competition Act alleging that the opposite party has abused its dominant position by imposing unfair conditions in granting electricity connections. The informant has supported the allegations by filing relevant material which is enclosed in volume II of the record.

2. The informant Ackruti City Limited (hereinafter referred to as ACL) is a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956. As per the information, it is carrying on business as a builder/contractor/developer and has undertaken various real estate development projects including slum redevelopment projects in the area of Andheri, Greater Mumbai. The opposite party namely Reliance Infrastructure Limited (hereinafter referred to as RIL) is one of the distributor of electricity in these areas.

3. The relevant facts as culled out from the information and other material available on record are being summarized as under :-

3.1 The Government of Maharashtra launched Slum Rehabilitation Scheme under the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act, 1966, which dealt with redevelopment of slums through promoters/owners/developers and cooperative housing societies of slum dwellers. It also established the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (hereinafter referred to as SRA) to serve as a planning authority for all slum areas under Greater Mumbai and to facilitate slum rehabilitation schemes.

3.2 In pursuance to the aforesaid schemes, the informant had submitted the proposals for redevelopment of the following existing slums in Andheri (East) area of Greater Mumbai:

(i)Slums at Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) land Pockets I, V, VI, VIII and IX;

(ii)Slums in a locality by the name of Saiwaid; and

(iii)Slums in a locality by the name of Shakarwadi and Ashram Chawl.

and accepting the proposal of the informant the letters of intent for various projects were issued by MIDC on 28th April, 1997 and by SRA on 24th August, 2001 and on 18th October, 2004.

3.3 As per the informant there were three Electricity Distribution companies in Mumbai i.e. Reliance Infrastructure Ltd., Tata Power Company Ltd., and Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Ltd. (MahaDiscom). It is alleged that the R1.L was granted license by Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) under the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003 and till 15th October, 2009 it was the sole distributor of electricity in various areas of Greater Mumbai including the south central zone comprising of Andheri & Jogeshwari. All the projects of the applicant fall within the south central zone. Accordingly, the applicant applied to the Opposite Party for providing electricity connection for taking up of these projects. However, the respondent refused to provide the electricity connections unless the unpaid electricity charges of the slum dwellers for the period prior to the Applicant taking charge of the properties in question for the purposes of redevelopment are paid first by the Applicant.

3.4 That the Opposite Party insisted on payment of outstanding electricity charges in cases of surrendered meters and outstanding electricity charges and even in cases of slums which had not been demolished but the slums dwellers are using power.

3.5 That in the absence of power supply by the Opposite Party, the Informant was not in a position to carryout any construction activity and the redevelopment projects which were taken up by the informants as per the Letters of Intent. In order to discharge its obligations under the Letter of Intent, the Informant, however, made certain payments pertaining to the past dues under protest to the Opposite Party.

3.6 According to the informant the opposite party has made illegal demands relating to -

(a)outstanding electricity charges in case of disconnected meters.

(b)Outstanding electricity charges in case of surrendered meters.

(c)Outstanding electricity ch