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The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday adjourned the appeals by both Google and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against the March 29 order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) upholding the penalty of Rs 1337.76 crore on Alphabet-owned Google for misusing its dominant position in the Android mobile device ecosystem.
The cases are now likely to come up for hearing on July 14.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) filed an appeal in the Supreme Court on June 5. Google also challenged the NCLAT decision to uphold the fine.
Though the NCLAT upheld the fine, it set aside four directions of the competition watchdog that the tech giant was supposed to comply with. CCI is challenging the setting aside of these four directions in SC.
The Appellate Tribunal set aside the directions relating to the non-monetary directives that would have forced Google to allow uninstalling of its pre-installed apps on Android devices.
The court also set aside directives that would have forced the tech giant to allow individual app store developers to distribute their app store through the Google Play Store.
Aside from the above two directives, the tribunal set aside directives to Google to allow app developers to distribute apps through side-loading, and not deny access to its play services Application Programming Interface (APIs) to disadvantage Original Equipment Manufacturers, app developers, and its existing or potential competitors.
The NCLAT rejected Google’s plea relating to violation of natural justice principles, among others, and directed the tech giant to cease and desist from participating in anti-competitive practices and deposit the penalty amount.
