Faculty Seminar | Whither Evidence (Act) based reasoning?: Towards an Effects-based Approach in Indian Competition Jurisprudence

This session was chaired by Rahul Singh, Associate Professor of Law, NLSIU.

Abstract:
India has a nascent competition enactment. But it has an old evidence law—the Indian Evidence Act—of 1872  vintage. The competition commission has shown scepticism towards the applicability of the evidence law to competition proceedings. This article argues that such scepticism is mistaken. Based upon an intrinsic reasoning (ie arguments from the autonomous discipline of law) and two ‘instrumental’ reasonings (ie arguments emphasizing the consequences of the counterfactual), this article underscores that the competition commission ought to develop fidelity towards the Indian Evidence Act. Such fidelity (rather than scepticism) would move the needle of competition jurisprudence towards an effects-based approach in decision-making.

Read the full paper.