Faculty Coordinator: Ms. Smita Sabne
The competition law cell was convened in December 2016, and is one of the most recent developments of ILS Law College.
The main goal of the Cell is to provide an opportunity for students to broaden their knowledge of competition law and to interact with other students who have a shared interest in the same. Familiarising students with competition law and allow students to cultivate their interest in competition law in an informal environment, without the pressure of being graded, expanding students’ advocacy skills by conducting demonstrations and conducting research leading to new insights and further the concept building of competition law.
Various Sessions and activities were organised to increase awareness of current and emerging issues in competition law.
Weekly sessions
The first session was an introductory session on competition law. Saurabh Misal of III LLB opened the discussion with the origin of competition laws and spoke about the Sherman Act. Divyanshu Sharma of IV BSLLLB addressed the erstwhile antitrust regime in India i.e. MRTP Act and its loopholes and why a need was felt to introduce a new set of mechanism. He also spoke about the merger control regime in India. Afreen Abbassi of IV BSLLLB explained horizontal and vertical anti-competitive agreements and discussed in detail how important it is to delineate a market o the basis of product characteristics and geographical location as every anti-competitive conduct is assessed in the backdrop of a market.
The second weekly session was conducted on cartels. Afreen Abbassi elucidated why cartel are presumed to in violation of the act whereas there is a different standard for vertical anti-competitive agreements. Ravalee Nath gave a comprehensive description of the cement cartels case and discussed the issues that emanated from the decision. Divyanshu Sharma spoke about big-rigging and how it damages consumer’s interests and public money directly.
Guest Lecture
Mr. Dhruv Rajain who is currently working with competition team at Khaitan and Co. in Delhi, LLM Graduate in Antitrust and M & A from Northwestern University and an ILS alumni took a comprehensive session on competition law. He spoke at length about the merger control regime in India which also happens to be his area and introduced them to the prospect of future study or employment in competition law.
The competition law cell is a student run body. Following students formed part of the core-committee: Ravalee Nath (V BSLLLB), Saurabh Misal – III LLB, Afreen Abbassi, Divyanshu Sharma and Rhea Samyal ( IV BSLLLB)