Cab aggregators face regulatory music, CCI rules in favour of OYO

Tough norms are likely to be implemented by the central government to check ride-hailing firms. Competition Commission says OYO is not in a dominant position

Cab aggregators in for tough ride

On-demand cab aggregators like Uber and Ola are set to face a slew of policy changes.

The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2019 will treats them as digital intermediaries bringing them under provisions of the draft Information Technology Intermediary Guidelines (Amendment) 2018, apart from rules framed by the centre which the states are required to follow in the case of these aggregators. 

The Supreme Court has also directed the centre to set up laws to regulate the cab aggregators and guided it to make a ‘panic button’ mandatory in all cabs registered on the platform.

The direction from a bench headed by justice SA Bobde came in response to a petition filed in the aftermath of the December 2012 Delhi gangrape case citing lack of security for women on these apps.  

Secretaries of DPIIT, telecom take charge

Chairman of Airports Authority of India Guruprasad Mohapatra took charge as secretary, department for promotion of ndustry and internal trade (DPIIT) under the commerce ministry on August 1. He replaced Ramesh Abhishek who superannuated on July 31. 

Anshu Prakash took charge as secretary of telecom, replacing Aruna Sundarajan who superannuated in July.

NCLAT hearing against Flipkart

National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) conducted the first hearing of an appeal filed by All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA) against Flipkart on July 30.

The industry body had filed an appeal against Competition Commission of India giving a clean chit to Flipkart over allegations of abuse of dominant position as an e-commerce platform in November 2018.

Flipkart was represented by lawyers from Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co apart from independent lawyers. The  next hearing of the case is scheduled to be held on August 14. 

CCI relief for OYO

Competition Commission of India (CCI) ruled in favour of budget hospitality and accommodation provider OYO in a complaint filed by New Delhi based RKG Hospitalities. 

The ruling said that the CCI “could not conclusively infer” that Gurugram headquartered OYO enjoyed a dominant position in the accommodation booking space. 

The complainant alleged unfair, one-sided and discriminatory practices by OYO which include demands for modification in hotel structure, co-branding and incentivisation depending on the performance of a property on the OYO platform.