The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on Monday reserved its judgment in Google’s plea against the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) order for “abuse of dominant position” by the US-based tech giant. The NCLAT bench of Chairperson Ashok Bhushan and Member (technical) Alok Srivastava held marathon hearings for more than one month. The NCLAT had started hearing the case on February 15 with the Supreme Court directive to give its ruling by March 31.
Senior counsel Arun Kathpalia and Maninder Singh argued the case on behalf of Google while additional solicitor general N Venkatraman argued on behalf of the CCI. The bench also heard interventions by other parties, including MapmyIndia, Epic Games and Indus OS which also contended that Google’s policies impacted them adversely.
On Monday, both Kathpalia and Singh completed their rejoinder submissions on behalf of Google. Venkatraman will submit written rejoinder submissions on behalf of the CCI by Tuesday. “
The CCI, in its order dated October 20, 2022, had imposed a `1,337-crore monetary penalty on Google for abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem and had issued a cease-and-desist order against Google from indulging in anti-competitive practices.
Following the CCI order, Google had filed a plea with NCLAT, which had declined to give an interim stay. The company had then approached the Supreme Court, which had also declined to stay the CCI order. It had, however, directed the NCLAT to decide on Google’s appeal by March 31.