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2025 Supreme(Online)(P&H) 7351
COMPETITION COMMISSION OF INDIA
Ms. Ravneet Kaur, CJ, Mr. Anil Agrawal, J, Ms. Sweta Kakkad, J, Mr. Deepak Anurag, J
ILD Housing Projects Private Limited – Appellant
Versus
Department of Town and Country Planning, Government of Haryana – Respondent
Case No. 14 of 2025 | Case No. 16 of 2025
For the Appellants/Petitioners: Not specified
For the Respondents: Not specified
Regulatory actions taken by government authorities in the exercise of statutory functions do not constitute market activities under the Competition Act, thus are not subject to its scrutiny for abuse of dominance.
Headnote:(A) Competition Act, 2002 - Sections 4 and 19(1)(a) - Allegation of abuse of dominant position by regulatory authorities - Informants allege EDC/IDC charges levied without corresponding development work conducted by the Opposite Parties, causing prejudice to developers and consumers. (Paras 1-4, 23-63)
(B) Regulatory Authority - The Commission held that actions of the Opposite Parties, being regulatory, do not constitute a separate market, and thus no prima facie case for contravention was made out under Section 4 of the Act. (Paras 57-63)
Facts of the case:
Informants filed allegations against the Government of Haryana's Department of Town and Country Planning and HSVP for levying EDC/IDC charges without timely infrastructure development, claiming discriminatory and onerous conditions in licence agreements.
Findings of Court:
The Commission found no prima facie contravention of the Competition Act as the regulatory functions performed by the Opposite Parties cannot fall within the purview of the Act.
Issues: Core issues involved whether the levied charges by the Opposite Parties constituted abuse of dominance and if their regulatory functions were subject to competition law scrutiny.
Ratio Decidendi: The court concluded that regulatory actions undertaken by government bodies, such as issuing licenses, must not be equated with commercial activities subject to competition law, thereby affirming the non-applicability of the Act to the regulatory framework under examination.
Result: Information closed under Section 26(2) of the Act.
Order under Section 26(2) of the Competition Act, 2002
1. The present Information has been filed by ILD Housing Projects Private Limited (“ILD”/“Informant No.1”) and Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Association of India-NCR (“CREDAI”/“Informant No.2”) (collectively referred to as the “Informants”) respectively under Section 19(1)(a) of the Competition Act, 2002 (“Act”) alleging contravention of the provisions of Section 4 of the Act by Department of Town and Country Planning, Government of Haryana, (“DTCP”/ “Opposite Party No.1”/“OP- 1”) and Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (“HSVP”/“Opposite Party No.2”/“OP-2”). Hereinafter, OP-1 and OP-2 are collectively referred to as the Opposite Parties (“OPs”).
2. The Information has been filed pursuant to the order of the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi dated 07.04.2025 passed in Writ Petitions [W.P.(C) 3705/2025 titled as ILD Housing Projects Pvt. Ltd. vs. CCI and others and W.P.(C) 10948/2024 titled as CREDAI NCR vs. CCI and others] wherein the Hon’ble High Court has directed the Commission to bestow its urgent consideration to the matter.
3. The Commission considthe matter in its ordinary meeting held on 16.07.2025 and decided to club Case No. 16 of 2025 with Case No. 14 of 2025 in terms of the proviso of Section 26(1) of the Act, considering that the subject matter of the Information in both the cases, was substantially the same.
4. The Commission also decided to forward a copy of the Information to the OPs to seek their comments/reply within 8 weeks from the date of receipt of the order.
Facts, as stated in the Information
5. Informant No. 1 is a real estate developer in Haryana and has developed various projects such as ILD Trade Centre, ILD Grand, and ILD Spire Greens etc. Informant No. 2 is the National Capital Region (“NCR”) chapter of the CREDAI, which is an apex organisation representing more than 11,940 real estate developers spread across 23 states.
6. OP-1 is the nodal department of the Government of Haryana (“Government”), empowered to regulate urban development in the State of Haryana. The department also renders advisory services to various corporations and boards such as OP-2, Housing Board of Haryana, Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. and Haryana State Marketing Board. It is also stated that OP-1 performs the following specific functions:
• Regulating development of colonies to prevent ill-planned and haphazard urbanization in or around the towns under the provisions of the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975 (“Haryana Development Act”/ “HDRUA Act”)
• Prevention of unauthorized and haphazard construction and regulation of planned urban development under the provision of Punjab Scheduled Roads and Controlled Areas Restriction of Unregulated Development Act, 1963 (“Punjab Act”) by declaring controlled areas around towns and public institutions, preparation of their development and sectoral plans for planned urban development; and • Prevention of unauthorized constructions and regulation of planned urban development under the provisions of the Punjab New Capital Periphery (Control) (Haryana Amendment) Act, 1971 applicable to the areas around Chandigarh in Panchkula District.
7. OP-2 (formerly known as Haryana Urban Development Authority) was created under the Haryana Urban Development Authority Act, 1977 (“HUDA Act”) to consolidate the task of planned development of urban areas which was previously being undertaken by individual government departments. As per the HUDA Act, the objectives and functions of OP-2 include:
• To promote and secure development of urban areas in a systematic and planned way with the power to acquire, sell and dispose of property, both movable and immovable;
• Use the acquired land for residential, industrial, recreational and commercial purposes;
• To make available developed land to Haryana Housing Board and other bodies for providing houses to economically weaker sections of the society; and
