A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, which included the chief justice of India, extended the implementation date of CCI's directives by a week beyond Jan. 19, but declined to block the ruling despite Google's repeated requests 
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, which included the chief justice of India, extended the implementation date of CCI's directives by a week beyond Jan. 19, but declined to block the ruling despite Google's repeated requests The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain the plea of US tech giant Google against an order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) refusing an interim stay on the competition regulator imposing a Rs 1,337 crore penalty on it for alleged abuse of dominant position. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala granted the US firm seven days to deposit 10 per cent of the penalty imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
The apex court asked the NCLAT to decide Google's appeal against the competition regulator's order by March 31 this year.
The US firm has been asked to approach the NCLAT within three working days from Thursday for seeking adjudication on its appeal against the CCI order.
The NCLAT had on January 4 refused to grant an interim stay on the order of the competition regulator and asked Google to deposit 10 per cent of the penalty amount.
The NCLAT had admitted the search giant's challenge to the CCI slapping a Rs 1,337.76 crore fine for abusing the dominant position of its Android smartphone operating system in the country.
Google has been concerned about the Indian decision as the remedies ordered are seen as more sweeping than the European Commission’s landmark 2018 ruling for imposing unlawful restrictions on Android mobile device makers. Google has challenged the record $4.3 billion fine in that case.
Google licenses its Android system to smartphone makers, but critics say it imposes restrictions such as mandatory pre-installation of its own apps that are anti-competitive. The company argues such agreements help keep Android free.
Google also says in its India filings that "no other jurisdiction has ever asked for such far-reaching changes".
Google had also argued in its legal filings that CCI's investigation unit "copy-pasted extensively from a European Commission decision, deploying evidence from Europe that was not examined in India".
"We have not cut, copy and paste," N Venkataraman, a government lawyer representing the CCI, told the apex court.
With inputs from Reuters
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