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The Bombay High Court has declined to interfere with the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) decision to order an investigation into alleged abuse of dominance by Asian Paints Limited. The Division Bench, comprising Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Dr. Neela Gokhale, found no infirmity in the CCI’s July 1, 2025 order directing its Director General to probe complaints filed by Grasim Industries Limited (Birla Opus Paints).

Grasim alleged that Asian Paints abused its dominant market position by offering arbitrary discounts and coercing dealers, among other practices. Asian Paints argued that similar allegations raised by JSW Paints and Sri Balaji Traders in 2022 were previously dismissed after a detailed probe, and that the CCI was barred from reconsidering such issues under Section 26(2-A) of the Competition Act, inserted in 2023. The company also objected to the lack of a hearing before the probe initiation.

The Court clarified that Section 26(2-A) does not impose a mandatory bar on the CCI from investigating subsequent complaints. It enables the Commission to close cases with substantially similar facts but does not prevent fresh complaints with new material and statutory provisions from being entertained. The Bench distinguished the present complaint from prior ones, highlighting distinct facts and new legal bases.

Addressing Asian Paints’ grievance regarding two versions of the July 1 order posted online, the judges explained the unsigned draft was mistakenly uploaded and replaced by the correct signed version the next day, but both served the same purpose—ordering an investigation. Importantly, the Court affirmed Supreme Court principles that orders under Section 26(1) of the Competition Act are administrative, and parties do not have an inherent right to a hearing before CCI’s formation of prima facie opinion and initiation of a probe.

The petition by Asian Paints was dismissed, allowing the CCI’s investigation into the alleged abuse of dominance to proceed.