The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ordered a probe against IREL for alleged abuse of dominant position. It is claimed that IREL used its dominant position and interfered in the sillimanite prices by pursuing biased pricing against the claims of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the local market.

CCI said that according to the facts and circumstances of the present case, it had been noticed that the opposite party is the only entity interested in the mining and supply of beach sand minerals in India and operates independently. “The CCI has also examined the allegation to unfair and biased pricing, but no responses have come from the opposite party. So the CCI has ordered a violation of Section 4 (2) of the Act,” it said in an order dated January 3. Hence, they have ordered an investigation against the Director General (DG) of IREL.