No premeditation in notice to Aamir,CCI tells court

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Wednesday informed the Bombay High Court that there was no premeditation in their action of issuing showcause notice to actor Aamir Khan’s production house over his alleged role in forming a cartel with other film producers to corner multiplex owners last year.

Khan had challenged the CCI’s showcause notice,stating the notice is without jurisdiction. His lawyer had contended that apart from the issue of jurisdiction,the commission seems to have made up their mind regarding the inquiry against them which is a form of harassment. Additional Solicitor General Darius Khambata on Wednesday submitted before the High Court that the petitioners are wrong in assuming that the commission has made up its mind for issuing compulsory license to multiplex owners in the matter.

“This is not a made up mind notice. The commission will take its own decision,” Khambata said. “They could pass a variety of orders,” he added. Khan’s lawyer had earlier argued that they are just enforcing their copyright freedom when it comes to releasing their films and the commission has no jurisdiction to initiate any inquiry in this regard. The dispute between Khan and the CCI follows a disagreement between film producers and multiplex owners in April last year. The commission had issued a notice to Khan and his production house in December last year,on the basis of their inquiry which pointed to his involvement in the formation of the alleged cartel.