New Delhi, Dec 9 (IANS): The Karnataka High Court will hear a petition filed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for probe against Amazon and Flipkart on January 18.

This is in pursuance of the order of the Supreme Court delivered on October 26 in the matter of a petition filed by the Competition Commission of India for vacation of the stay order granted by the Karnataka High Court in February 2020.

This pertains to conducting investigations against Amazon and Flipkart, prompting the CCI to move a petition in the Supreme Court for vacating the stay of the Karnataka High Court. The matter was heard on Wednesday by a single judge bench of the Karnataka High Court.

The judge upon hearing every party decided that he would hear the petition of Amazon and Flipkart for final disposal, including the petition filed by the CCI, on January 18.

The Flipkart counsel stated that for final disposal, it is not required to hear the submission to be made by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which was strongly objected by the lawyers of the CAIT. The court stated that CAIT can file its reply to the writ petition filed by Amazon by this weekend.

It is to be noted that both Amazon and Flipkart prefered to file a writ petition in February 2020 in the Karnataka High Court challenging the order of investigation of CCI pursuant to an information filed by Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh (DVM) and the Confederation of All India Traders.

The single judge ordered a stay on the investigation, to which the CCI filed a petition before the Supreme Court in October with the prayer for vacation of the said stay.

The Supreme Court directed the CCI to file the said application for vacating the stay before the Karnataka High Court and the high court was asked to dispose of the application within six weeks of such filing by the CCI. Pursuant to the Supreme Court order, the CCI filed its application for vacation of stay and the matter was heard on Wednesday.