In a setback to Google, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Wednesday refused to provide an interim stay on the Rs 1,338-crore penalty imposed on the tech giant by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and asked it to deposit 10% of the amount.
The NCLAT bench comprising Rakesh Kumar, member (judicial) and Alok Srivastava, member (technical), however, admitted the petition by Google challenging the penalty and a series of directions to it by the regulator for “abuse of dominant position” of its Android operating system.
The appellate tribunal also issued notices to CCI. It will take up the matter for final hearing on April 3.
The competition watchdog in October last year had imposed the penalty on Google for abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in the Android Mobile device ecosystem, comprising a range of smartphones, web searches, browsing and video hosting services. The regulator accused Google of entering into “one-sided agreements” with smartphone makers to ensure the dominance of its apps, while also issuing cease and desist orders. It directed Google to modify its conduct within a defined timeline. The order was to become effective from January 19.
The US tech giant had challenged the order on the grounds that it would impact consumer safety and experience on its Android devices and could also raise the prices of smartphones.
Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared on behalf of Google, sought an immediate stay on the order and submitted that there was no finding of abuse of any dominance against Google in the CCI order. He also contended that part of the CCI’s order was a copy-paste of the 2018 order by the European Union Commission against Google.
The NCLAT, however, declined an interim stay, noting that it needs to go through the matter and records before passing an order. It also observed that Google approached the NCLAT nearly two months after the CCI order and it did not see any urgency.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi filed an impleadment plea on behalf of MapMyIndia. The NCLAT allowed them to file their plea but said it would hear them at a later date.
The CCI had come out with two orders on Google in October. The first one on October 20 had imposed the Rs 1,338-crore penalty, while the second order on October 26 had imposed another penalty of `936-crore for abusing its dominant position on the Android mobile app store. In both the cases, Google has been asked to cease and desist from such practices in future.