Delhi HC junks plea by startups ,broadcasting bodies against CCI over delayed hearing

Delhi HC refuses to entertain plea by ADIF

The Delhi High Court on February 16 refused to entertain petitions by Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) and Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation  (IBDF) against the Competition Commission of India (CCI) over 'inordinate' delay in hearing their pleas against Google over its billing policy.

ADIF represents a bunch of startups while IBDF is an unified representative body of the television broadcasters and OTT platforms.

The HC observed that since the CCI has already decided to hear the pleas against Google on February 21, the petitions have now become infructuous or invalid. The court also observed that it cannot pressure a regulator to take up a case unless the CCI is taking up other cases while avoiding the hearing of the case by ADIF and IBDF.

Both ADIF and IBDF had moved the court alleging that CCI had not heard their case against Google's billing policy since July 2023. These organisations had moved a plea for interim relief against the tech giant in CCI over threat of being delisted from Google's Play Store if they did not comply with its billing policy.

ADIF's Vs CCI:

In April 2023, ADIF moved the Delhi HC against the competition regulator and the search engine giant, seeking CCI to urgently investigate Google's user choice billing system (UCB) as it violates the anti-trust watchdog's October 25, 2022 order.

ADIF had moved the petition since CCI did not have an appropriate quorum to hear the case. The Delhi HC allowed their plea and directed the CCI to hear the case immediately.

In May 2023, CCI agreed to inquire into tech giant Google's new users’ choice billing policy and check whether the company has complied with its October 2022 order. However the case has seen little movement since then.

What are ADIF's allegations against Google?

According to ADIF, under the new policy, if a user pays through the alternative billing system (also termed user choice billing system), the transaction will still be subjected to a service fee, but at a 4 percent rate reduction.

This, in effect, means that developers will have to pay a service fee to Google ranging from 6-26 percent for in-app purchases and subscriptions, depending on the type of app/service and the annual revenue it generates on Google Play, as compared to the regular 10-30 percent service fee.

Google came up with this policy pursuant to CCI's direction from October 2022 asking it not to not restrict app developers from using any third-party billing or payment processing services to purchase apps or for in-app billing on Google Play besides a range of corrective measures to modify the company's app payment policies.

It also fined Google Rs 936.44 crore for abusing its dominant position with regard to its Play Store policies. Google is currently pursuing its appeal in NCLAT against CCI's order.