Supreme Court agrees to examine Google's plea on Jan 16 against CCI's penalty of Rs 1,337.76 cr

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to examine an appeal by Google against a decision by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), declining to stay a Rs 1,337.76 crore penalty imposed on it by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for alleged anti-competitive practices.

Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, representing Google, mentioned the matter before a bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud.

Singhvi contended that the CCI passed extraordinary directions and the compliance date has been fixed as January 19, though the appeal was filed in December. Singhvi said, "I am asking (listing of the case) for Friday..."

The bench, also comprising Justice P.S. Narasimha, said, "We will keep it on Monday". Singh emphasized that the compliance date of the order is January 19, otherwise the matter will become infructuous.

Google moved the apex court after the setback at NCLAT, which did not stay the CCI order on abuse of dominant position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem case.

Earlier this month, the NCLAT did not find any urgency to pass an interim order, after noting that Google filed the appeal in December last year, though the CCI passed the order in October. It directed Google to deposit 10 per cent of the fine amount.

The tribunal had said that there was no urgency shown in the filing of the appeal, therefore Google could not be allowed to press for interim relief.

In October last year, the CCI had imposed a penalty of Rs 1,337.76 crore on the company for abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in relation to Android mobile devices.

The CCI also imposed a penalty of Rs 936.44 crore on the company for abusing its dominant position with respect to its Play Store policies.