The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) dismissed Google’s appeal and upheld the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) penalty of Rs 1337.76 crore against the company for abusing its dominant position in the Android market. The tech firm has 30 days to make the payment.
Tech giant Google suffered a major defeat when the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) upheld the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) penalties of Rs. 1337.76 crore for abusing its dominant position in the Android market.
Google was fined by the CCI because, according to the CCI, the company’s Mobile App Distribution Agreement (MADA) with device makers prevented device makers from installing competing programmes. The NCLAT dismissed Google’s claim that the CCI’s order breached the “principles of natural justice” and affirmed the penalty.
Google has been given 30 days to pay the Rs. 1,337 crore fine and comply with the judgement by NCLAT. NCLAT ruled that the CCI’s investigation of Google did not violate the principles of natural justice.
To fill you in, the CCI penalised Google Rs 1337.76 crore for abusing its dominant position in certain Android mobile device ecosystem marketplaces. Google had asked for the CCI penalty to be put on hold. In December of 2022, an appeal was filed against the CCI’s judgement from October. On January 4th, the NCLAT agreed to hear the matter in April but declined to examine whether or not to temporarily halt the CCI orders. The Supreme Court subsequently issued a deadline of March 31 for NCLAT to issue a decision on Google’s appeal. The next court date for this case is April 3, 2023.