NEW DELHI: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has cleared the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) of any wrongdoing after a complaint was filed against them by the Sports Ministry for monopolistic practices, Press Trust of India reports.
The complaint was filed back in 2015 when the AFI had announced strict punishments to those athletes, federations or officials who encouraged or participated in unauthorised marathons or events, without seeking the federation’s approval.
In a 27-page order following a thorough investigation by the Director General of CCI since March 2016, the authority had reportedly written that since “no case of contravention of any of the provisions of Section 4 of the (Competition) Act is made out against AFI, the matter is disposed of. And that its alleged conduct “is not found to be abusive”.
Section 4 pertains to abuse of dominant market position. For the case, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) considered the ‘market for provision of services for organisation of athletics/ athletic activities in India’ as the relevant one.
As per the order, the very fact that the AFI recognises only 11 marathons or races out of 300 conducted successfully each year in India means that 96% of them are not recognised by the federation.
“Therefore, these facts negate the findings by the DG that AFI, by putting restriction on the organisers for conducting marathons/ road races, is limiting the market for organisation of athletics/ athletic activities in India and foreclosing the market to the organisers, sponsors and participating athletes,” the CCI said.
