Film Employees’ Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) has approached the Supreme Court against an order by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) that had held it responsible for indulging in anti-competitive practices by asking artistes, technicians, and producers not to work with director Vinayan.
The CCI, which had issued an order on March 24, 2017, based on Mr. Vinayan’s complaint, imposed a total penalty of 11.25 lakh on FEFKA, Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA), and its representatives for violation of the provisions under the Competition Act, 2002. FEFKA and FEFKA Director's Union have petitioned the apex court that the CCI did not have the jurisdiction to intervene in its activities, which come under the purview of the Trade Unions Act, 1926.
‘Trade union issue’
“Our contention is that any complaint related to the trade unions can only be brought before the Labour Department or the labour court. All the trade unions in the country will be affected if the CCI’s order is held valid,” said B. Unnikrishnan, general secretary of FEFKA.
Mr. Vinayan said he had approached the CCI seeking its intervention to remove the ban imposed him by bodies that include FEFKA and AMMA. “Mr. Unnikrishnan need to concentrate on how to resurrect film workers from the crisis induced by the pandemic rather than trying to disrupt my right to work in the industry,” he said.
The CCI had directed the AMMA, FEFKA, FEFKA Directors’ Union, and FEFKA production executives’ union to pay a fine of ₹4 lakh, ₹85,594, ₹3.86 lakh, and ₹56,661 respectively for indulging in anti-competitive practices.
It had also asked actors Innocent and Edavela Babu (as representatives of AMMA); filmmaker Sibi Malayil (as president of FEFKA) and Mr. Unnikrishnan to pay a fine of ₹51, 478, ₹19,113, ₹66, 356, and ₹32, 026 respectively.
