PremiumThe Supreme Court on 18 January posted for hearing on January 19 an appeal of Google India against a ruling of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), that earlier refused to stay a ₹1,337.76 crore penalty imposed on the technology giant by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for alleged anti-competitive practices.
The bench -- comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala -- will hear the case on Thursday at 11.30 am.
Earlier on Monday, the the bench asked Google whether it will put in place the same regime in India as it has in Europe with respect to the pre-installed apps in Android-based mobile phones.
The following inquiry of the apex court had come after Additional Solicitor General of India N Venkataraman, appearing for CCI, told the apex court that Google was taking different standards in Europe and India and the search engine company had complied with a similar order passed by European Commission.
ASG asked how can they discriminate Indian consumers from European consumers.
Google approached the Supreme Court after facing a setback at NCLAT, which refused to stay a CCI order on abuse of dominant position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem case.
It had challenged the January 4 order of the NCLAT which refused to stay the CCI order reasoning that the CCI's order was passed in October 2022, while the appeal by Google was filed only in December 2022 and hence, no case for interim relief was made out.
The CCI had, in October 2022, imposed the penalty on Google for abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem and also directed Google to cease and desist from participating in anti-competitive practices.
Google challenged the CCI order in the NCLAT, which is an appellate authority over the CCI against any direction issued by the regulator.
With agency inputs.