Competition Commission has dismissed complaint of unfair business practices made against Gurgaon-based Shikshantar School and the Haryana government.
The allegations were made by parents of a former student at the school, located in Haryana, but the anti-trust regulator did not find any prima-facie violation of competition norms by the school.
Besides the school, the complaint was filed against Haryana School Education Department's Principal Secretary as well as Elementary Education's Director and Assistant Director.
For the case, CCI considered 'market of the provision of school education services in Gurgaon' as the relevant one.
According to the regulator, prima facie Shikshantar School is not enjoying dominant position in the relevant market and hence there is no need to examine its conduct under section 4 of the Competition Act.
Section 4 pertains to abuse of dominant market position.
The CCI observed that Shikshantar is one of the well known schools in Gurgaon but there are also a number of other prominent schools in that area.
"... There are around 125 schools operating in Gurgaon. The presence of other comparable schools in Gurgaon indicates that the parents of the informant had options to admit the informant in other schools and they do not seem to be completely dependent on OP 1 (Shikshantar) for school education services," the order, dated September 28, said.
With regard to the allegations of violation of the provisions of section 3, the CCI said available information does not disclose any kind of agreement which can be termed as anti-competitive in terms of any of the provisions of section 3 of the Act.
Section 3 relates to anti-competitive agreements while
It was alleged that by abusing its dominant position the school refused to refund the unspent fees and the refundable amount to the parents of the student.
