The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear on 16 January an appeal of Google against the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s refusal to stay the Rs 1,337.76 crore penalty imposed on the technology giant by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for alleged anti-competitive practices.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha said it would hear the case on Monday.
Pleading for the urgent hearing, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Google, said, “Extraordinary directions were passed by CCI. I am asking (listing of the case) for Friday. The compliance date (of the order) is 19 January, otherwise the matter will become infructuous.”
“We will keep it on Monday,” said the bench.
After facing a setback at NCLAT, which refused to stay the CCI order, Google approached the Supreme Court. In October 2022, the CCI imposed the penalty on Google for abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem and also directed the technology giant to cease and desist from participating in anti-competitive practices.
