CCI rejects complaint against 6 individuals in land sale case

Fair trade watchdog CCI has rejected a complaint against six individuals pertaining to sale of land plots in Dehradun, saying it is a dispute among individuals.
Two complainants wanted to sell three plots of land last year, but the property dealer from whom it was purchased "dishonestly reported to the said buyer that while there is no doubt about the authenticity of the sale deeds, the land shown in the agreement is not the same as in the site plan", according to the complaint made to CCI.
The two complainants purchased the plots of land from a property dealer in 2006 for Rs 17.63 lakh on Hathi Paon Road in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The plots of land belonged to four individuals, including the property dealer, according to the order by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

It was alleged that the four individuals, along with two others, have violated the terms and conditions of the agreement and sale deeds, played fraud, cheated the informants, committed offence of breach of trust and did not abide by the contractual obligations, among others.
Rejecting the complaint, CCI said it is primarily an individual dispute and does not raise any competition concerns.
Further, the regulator said the complaint did not raise any kind of allegations pertaining to anti-competitive behaviour, in the absence of which there is no need to examine the matter in terms of either the provisions of Section 3 or Section 4 of the Competition Act.

"Thus, the commission is of the view that no case of contravention of any provisions of the Act is made out against the opposite parties (property dealer and the other five individuals)," CCI said.
Section 3 of the Act pertains to cartelisation while Section 4 deals in abuse of dominant market position.