SC defers hearing of appeals against NCLAT order on Google

Google Vs CCI

The Supreme Court on July 7 deferred the hearing appeals by both Google and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against the order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) upholding Rs 1,338 crore penalty for anti-trust violations.

The cases are now likely to come up for hearing on July 14.

In March 2023, the NCLAT partially upheld the CCI order on the abuse of Android dominance order against Google. The tribunal upheld the penalty of Rs 1,338 crore imposed by CCI.

The anti-trust appellate tribunal held that the CCI's order does not suffer from any confirmation bias. Furthermore, the NCLAT held that Google asking the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to pre-install the entire Google Suite of 11 applications amounts to imposition of unfair conditions.

The NCLAT, however, set aside four key directions issued to Google by the CCI:

1. Google was fair in sending warnings (sideloading) to users when they download applications directly from the website or from an unknown source.
2. Google need not share its proprietary application program interface (API) with third parties.
3. Google was right in not permitting third-party application stores on its play stores to avoid malware
4. Google can restrict the uninstallation of Google Suite apps on Android phones

It is to be noted that the CCI has also challenged the NCLAT's order at the Supreme Court

In October 2022, the CCI, based on the investigation report and other documents filed by both sides, concluded that Google was abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem. It asked Google to cease and desist from its practices and pay a penalty of Rs 1,338 crore.

The fair practice regulator held that Google could neither force OEMs of smart devices to preinstall its apps, nor restrict users from uninstalling such apps. It also asked the US major not to offer any incentives to OEMs to comply with its conditions.

Google moved the NCLAT in January but failed to get immediate relief. The company then approached the Supreme Court against the tribunal's decision. The apex court, in turn, refused to intervene in the case and asked NCLAT to look into it.