Page 189 - DMGT401Business Environment

Business Environment

Notes (d) Requisition of any public record from any court or office.
(e) Issuing of any commission for examination of witness and
(f) Appearance of parties and consequences of non-appearance.
2. Proceedings before the Commission are deemed as judicial proceedings within the meaning
of Sections 193 and 228 of IPC.
3. To require any person to produce before it and to examine and keep any books, accounts
or other documents relating to the trade practice in its custody.
4. To require any person to furnish such information with respect to the trade practice as
may be required, or such other information as may be in his possession in relation to the
trade carried on by any other person.
5. To authorize any of its officers to enter and search any undertaking, or seize any books or
papers relating to an undertaking in relation to which the inquiry is being made, if the
commission suspects that such books or papers are being or may be destroyed, mutilated,
altered, falsified or secreted.
6. The Commission has the power to order compensation and damage, if a person is found
(after enquiry), to be indulging in unfair, monopolistic or restrictive trade practice. An
application can be made to the Commission for awarding compensation for loss or damage
suffered due to such trade practice.

Restriction on the Powers of Commission

The Commission cannot restrict any right attached to a patent. It cannot order in respect of
conditions attached by a patent holder to his licensee in India. Firms engaged in production,
supply, distribution or control of goods for export exclusively cannot be restrained by the
Commission. Trade unions and government undertakings engaged in defense production do
not come under the purview of the MRTP Act. Judgments of High court are binding the MRTP
Commission. It has no power to impose penalties though it can only issue 'cease and desist'
order and can order compensation.

The MRTP Act was implemented in keeping with India's adopted political ideology of socialism.
Its basic objective was to restrict the concentration of economic power by restricting and
controlling the big companies, but in reality it only restricted and controlled the growth of
Indian economy. If we examine developments the development up to 1990 we will find that
much of the big business was in the hands of few business houses of India as they alone could
mange to garner license for manufacturing.

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Caution Restrictions on expansion resulted in a low level of production that resulted in
high production cost and short supply, both of which are detrimental to the consumer.
As a result, India, which was an economic power in Asia at the time of its independence, soon fell
way behind much smaller economies, like Japan and South Korea, which overtook us to emerge
as economic giant.
In view of this, the thrust of the 1991 liberalisation removed those sections of the MRTP Act that
required large undertakings to seek permission from the government before initiating any
activity. The current version of the MRTP Act merely allows for the possibility of the government
dividing undertaking or serving interconnections if it feels that such an action is in the 'public
interest’. The role of the MRTP Commission remains confined to providing a suitable report – if

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