SC agrees to hear plea of Google against NCLAT's refusal to stay CCI's Rs 1,337-crore penalty order

New Delhi, Jan 11: Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal of Google against a ruling of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), which refused to stay a Rs 1,337.76 crores penalty imposed on it by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for alleged anti-competitive practices

The matter has been listed for January 16. Last week, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal directed Google to pay 10 per cent of the Rs 1,337.76-crore penalty imposed on the tech giant by fair trade regulator CCI. A two-member bench, however, declined to grant any immediate stay the operations of Competition Commission of India (CCI) penalty and said it would pass any order after hearing out other parties.

The appellate tribunal has issued notices to CCI and directed to list the matter on February 13, for hearing over interim stay.

The NCLAT direction came over a petition filed by Google, challenging the CCI order on the tech giant abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem, saying the verdict is a setback for Indian users and will make such devices more expensive in the country.

On October 20 last year, CCI slapped a penalty of Rs 1,337.76 crore on Google for anti-competitive practices in relation to Android mobile devices. In the October ruling, CCI had also ordered the internet major to cease and desist from various unfair business practices.

"...in the interest of justice and with an intent of ensuring necessary market correction at the earliest, the CCI quantified the provisional monetary penalties on the basis of the data presented by Google. Accordingly, the CCI imposed a penalty of Rs. 1,337.76 crores upon Google on a provisional basis, for violating Section 4 of the Act," a CCI release said.

This was challenged by Google before NCLAT, which is an appellate authority over the CCI against any direction issued or decision made or order passed by the regulator.

In its petition, Google had sought an interim stay over the penalty.

Android has greatly benefitted Indian users, developers, and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and powered India's digital transformation, Google had said.

It also alleged that the Director General (DG) has copy-pasted paragraphs from the rulings of foreign authorities.

With inputs from PTI