1. O R D E R The Competition Commission of Pakistan (the 'Commission'), upon receipt of complaints alleging deceptive marketing by Al Haaj Mian Liaquat Ali of Liaquat Hospital Lahore and Dr. Shazia Liaquat (the 'Respondents') through its television commercial (TVC) in violation of Section 10 of the Competition Act, 2010 (the 'Act'), initiated an inquiry into the matter in terms of Section 37(2) of the Act.
2. The inquiry was concluded vide inquiry report dated 7th April 2014 (the 'Inquiry Report'). Based on the findings of the Inquiry Report a show cause notices were issued to the Respondents on 3rd October 2014.
3. On November 11, 2014 Syed Mansoor Ali Bhukari Advocate Supreme Court appeared before the Commission on behalf of the Respondents and argued the matter at length and counsel gave the following undertaking before the Commission: "Suitable alteration in the advertisements will be made and which will be forwarded to the Commission for its consideration and approval"
4. Despite this undertaking, however, no revised TVC has been submitted to the Commission till date. Moreover, the Commission has become aware that since the last hearing the Respondents have started airing the TVC on other channels in different languages.
5. During the hearing on 15th January 2015, the Commission noted that the continued airing of the TVC was likely to cause serious damage, and therefore, in the public interest, it was necessary to issue an interim order under Section 31 of the Act till the conclusion of the proceedings. The Respondent's counsel, upon being given an opportunity to make his arguments on this matter, stated that he had no objection in this regard.
6. Therefore, we hereby order the Respondent: To immediately stop airing the TVC in any language and on all channels till the conclusion of proceedings; and To file written commitment with the Registrar of the Commission, to his satisfaction and no later than ten day from the date of this order, that they would comply with the statement made by their counsel during the hearing on 15-01-2015; and To file a compliance report within fifteen days from the date of order with regard to directions given in the two paragraphs above.