NCLAT Upholds CCI’s ₹1,337 Crore Penalty On Google For Abuse Of Dominant Position

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Wednesday upheld the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) decision imposing a penalty of Rs 1,337.76 crore on Google in a case involving abuse of its dominant position in Android. The NCLAT has given the tech giant 30 days to pay the fine and implement the order.

The NCLAT stated that the CCI’s probe into Google did not violate natural justice principles. A two-member NCLAT bench said it could not accept the contention that the CCI ruling on Google is “replete with confirmation bias.”

The NCLAT bench, which included Chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan and Member Alok Shrivastava, also made some changes to the CCI ruling.

The NCLAT granted Alphabet Inc’s Google partial relief by setting aside four of the CCI directives in the case relating to abuse of its dominant position in Android.

Google will no longer be required to host third-party app stores within the Play Store, as earlier ordered by the CCI.

The move will provide some relief to Google after the Supreme Court refused to suspend any of the antitrust remedies ordered last year in January. The Supreme Court had asked the tribunal to hear the case on merit and rule by the end of March.

Google was concerned about India’s Android decision because the directives were perceived to be more sweeping than those imposed in the European Commission’s landmark 2018 judgement against the operating system.

On October 20, last year, the CCI fined Google Rs 1,337.76 crore for anti-competitive practises in connection to Android mobile devices. The regulator also directed the Internet giant to stop engaging in various unfair business practises.