ISLAMABAD, July 30: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has made significant progress in reducing its legal backlog and recovering penalties, marking a major turnaround in the enforcement of competition law. When the new management took charge in August 2023, the CCP faced 567 pending cases across different courts. Through early hearing applications and aggressive follow-up, 223 cases have since been decided, cutting the backlog by more than 40 percent.
The biggest relief came in the Competition Appellate Tribunal (CAT), where 121 cases were decided out of 210, bringing down pendency by 58 percent. The Lahore High Court decided 39 cases, reducing backlog by 78 percent, while the Sindh High Court disposed of 40 cases, a 61 percent cut. The Islamabad High Court decided 13 cases, lowering pendency by 43 percent. At the Supreme Court, 11 cases were decided, and 171 cases challenging CCP’s mandate have been clubbed for a single hearing. The resolution of cases has enabled the CCP to recover imposed penalties. In the past year alone, the Commission recovered PKR 360 million, surpassing the total PKR 201 million collected since its establishment in 2007.
One of the landmark judgments was delivered by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the Dalda Foods vs CCP case, which strengthened the CCP’s enforcement capacity. The apex court unanimously upheld the Commission’s statutory powers to gather information and conduct inquiries under Section 36 of the Competition Act, 2010. The Court ruled that companies are bound to comply with CCP directives and that the Commission is not required to provide detailed reasoning before launching an inquiry. Similarly, in a case on alleged cartelization in the poultry sector, the Lahore High Court upheld CCP’s authority to pursue investigations into price-fixing. Justice Jawad Hassan stressed that show-cause notices cannot be prematurely challenged in High Courts and must first go through CCP’s adjudication process, reaffirming the regulator’s autonomy.
A major breakthrough that helped the swift resolution of cases was the revival of the Competition Appellate Tribunal, after the appointment of Justice Sajjad Ali Shah as Chairman with members Dr. Faiz Elahi Memon and Asim Akram. The tribunal has disposed of 121 cases, leaving only 89 pending, and delivered rulings that have both reduced penalties and clarified key points of law.
Notable decisions by CAT include upholding fines on Reckitt Benckiser (Strepsils), PVMA, ICAP, and British Lyceum, while reducing penalties on PREMA Milk, Diamond Paints, 3N Lifemed, and Pakistan Steel Mills. In the high-profile Sugar Mills cartel case involving Rs 44 billion, the tribunal remanded the matter back to CCP, ruling that the Chair’s casting vote was invalid.
