Discharging a notice of enquiry earlier issued by the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC), its acting chairman RK Anand and member M Mahajan said, "It has not been demonstrated that the market share of the respondent company is not to the extent of 6-7 per cent."

The bench said, "It has been held by the commission that the share being less than 9 per cent could have no significant effect on competition and cannot prevent, distort or restrict competition, thus making available to the respondent the gateways provided in the MRTP Act."

The bench observed that discount was given to the dealers and minimum quantity in respect of each category of goods entitled for discount were not such to financially restrain the dealers from lifting it. The discount structure was not such as to reduce the opportunities of the smaller dealers to compete with the bigger ones, which would have the effect of preventing, distorting or reducing the competition between them as held in the case of German Remedies Ltd (Supra), the bench observed. Mather & Platt, a public limited company, is the manufacturer and distributor of pumps, electric motors and fire engineering products.

(PTI)