As the Supreme Court hears Google’s plea to stay A fine of Rs 1,337 crore was imposed against the US tech giant by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the Center told the top court on Wednesday that the world is watching how we deal with the issue.
N Venkataraman, Additional Solicitor General, who appeared in the court for the Centre, said, “This is a matter of primary importance. The world is watching us.”
CCI has alleged Google for abusing its dominant position in the market under section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002. The penalty was imposed because the company pre-loaded Android Phones sold in India with their own apps hurt the business of rival app developers.
Google initially appealed against the order before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), but the tribunal refused to stay the order, following which the tech giant approached the apex court. On Monday, the matter came up for hearing before the Supreme Court where the judges raised some important questions regarding the standards followed by the company in India as compared to Europe.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud insisted on remaining on the merits of the case. “We will list the matter tomorrow and confine ourselves to the merits of seeking an adjournment,” the judge said.
On Thursday, the company, represented by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, will begin arguments against the NCLAT order.
The court also suggested that they may send the matter back to NCLAT as they have not heard the matter yet and posted it for April. “NCLAT has not considered their (Google) application for stay. Instead of doing this, we can ask NCLAT to do the same. They may appear on Monday and we may pass an order not to take any coercive steps by extending the stay (on payment of fine) for two weeks.”
NCLAT has refused to stay the application and posted it for April. The tribunal also asked the company to pay 10 per cent of the total fine within three weeks.
Additional Solicitor General Venkataraman said the company should not get two shifts for the same matter. “They can’t have two innings,” he said, referring to Google’s exposure first before the NCLAT and then in the Supreme Court. Supreme Court.
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