The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has dismissed the petition of M/s. Rizwan Textile Mills Limited against the penalty imposed on the Mills on 30 April, 2007 by Monopoly Control Authority (MCA) for non supplying information and non-compliance of the authority's order, it was officially stated.
The petition was dismissed by the commission on January 2, 2007 after hearing it and kept intact the penalty imposed on the mills. The undertaking has now to pay a fine of Rs 10, 000/-per day from April 4, 2007 onwards in addition to Rs 100,000 penalty.
Talking to Business Recorder officials of CCP said that the MCA had served several show-cause notices on M/s. Rizwan Textile Mills Limited but they paid no heed. "The authority not only issued show-cause notices but also fined the mills, yet the MCA did not get any response from the mills", said the officials.
A plenty of Rs 100,000 and Rs 10,000/day was imposed on the undertaking, M/s. Rizwan Textile Mills Ltd, by MCA for not providing the essential information and not complying with the authority's order.
The undertaking failed to deposit the penalty under the relevant head of account, therefore the matter was referred to District Collector for recovery of the arrears. Later on when the Revenue officials approached M/s. Rizwan Textile Mills Limited and asked them to pay the fine, after then the officials of M/s. Rizwan Textile Mills Limited contacted the authority", added the officials.
"The officials of M/s. Rizwan Textile Mills Limited then rushed to our offices and denied that they had received any show-cause notices from the authority. Their office is situated on the third floor of the building and they received nothing in this connection, not even the notices containing the details of fine imposed on them by the authority", said the officials.
The officials of M/s. Rizwan Textile Mills Limited pleaded that they have not received the notices from the authority as the address mentioned on the notices was wrong.
The undertaking vide its applications dated 10-12-2007 took the plea that the Authority passed ex-parte orders, whereas in the interest of justice and equality the unit may be provided an opportunity of being heard.
The Commission, acceding the request of the undertaking, directed it to appear on 21-1-2008 and place its submissions before the Commission, but they could not give any concrete reason for not providing the information, and non-response to the show-cause notices and not appearing before the authority on the previous dates of hearings.
The commission, therefore, upheld the Orders passed by the MCA. Meanwhile, show-cause notices issued to M/s. Dewan Salman Fiber Limited under Section 14 of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (Control and Prevention) Ordinance, 1970 was also taken up during the hearing.
The commission took a serious notice that neither the Chief Executive nor any Senior Executive of the undertaking appeared before the Commission. The Commission adjourned the case till January 10, 2008 with a clear direction that Chief Executive or the concerned Senior Executive should appear before the Commission fully prepared.
The hearing was held under the Chairmanship of Khalid A. Mirza, while Abdul Ghaffar, Rahat Kaunain Hassan and Nabeels Mimi Bangash and other members were also present. Senior Executive (Mergers, Cartels, Monopoly and Trading) and Registrar assisted the Commission during the hearings.