KOCHI: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has slapped penalty on the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) and the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) and its two subsidiaries for imposing an undeclared ban on director Vinayan.
The office-bearers of the organisations were also fined. The CCI issued an order in this regard on Friday, based on a complaint filed by Vinayan.
In his complaint, Vinayan alleged the organisations persuaded actors, producers and other stakeholders not to associate with him. He alleged the ‘ban’ was imposed on him after he took initiatives to streamline the working conditions of film artists and formed ‘Cinema Forum,’ a platform for making low-budget films. Saying their action was in contravention of the Competition Law, the CCI imposed penalties of Rs 4,00,065 on AMMA, Rs 85,594 on FEFKA, Rs 3,86,354 on the FEFKA Directors’ Union and Rs 56,661 on the FEFKA Production Executives’ Union.
Fine was also imposed on the office-bearers of AMMA including Innocent (Rs 51,478) and Edavela Babu (Rs 19,113). Penalties of Rs 32,026 and Rs 27,737 were imposed on B Unnikrishnan and K Mohanan, respectively. The CCI in its order said the artists and technicians have not been able to associate with Vinayan, due to the ban. “Such anti-competitive practices have had an adverse effect on the Malayalam film industry. The commission found the impugned decisions and practices of the organisations and their office-bearers to be in contravention of Section-3(3) of the Competition Act-2002,” read the order.