Within days of the Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling in the Android case, tech giant Google has moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) seeking an expedited hearing in the matterto ensure its timely disposal in line with the directions of the Apex Court.
Sources familiar with the development said that the tech giant had approached the NCLAT the very next day after it received the certified copy of SC’s January 19 ruling on January 23.
The NCLAT Bench comprising Chairperson Ashok Bhushan and Member (Technical) Alok Srivastavaon Monday will fix a date for hearing Google’s appeal.
While declining to interfere with the NCLAT order of January 4, the SC in its ruling on January 19 had directed the Appellate Tribunal to dispose Google’s appeal by March 31.
The SC had also declined to grant stay on the ten non-monetary directions issued by Competition Commission of India (CCI) in its October 20 ruling last year. The Apex Court, however, extended the period of compliance on CCI’s ruling by another week, and this period expired on January 26.
It may be recalled that NCLAT, on January 4, declined to give an interim stay against the CCI ruling and agreed to admit appeal on pre-deposit of 10 per cent of the overall penalty of ₹1,337 crore. Google went in appeal before SC against this NCLAT order.
Google contended that NCLAT had erred in summarily rejecting its request for a stay on the ten non-monetary directions (Remedial Directions) on an inadequate and unjustifiable reason. The tech giant also contended that the Tribunal had erred in making the admission of the company’s NCLAT appeal against the Commission’s Order subject to a pre-deposit amount.
The SC in its January 19 ruling said that parties (Google) should move the NCLAT with a certified copy of the order within three working days. Also, the Apex Court had asked the NCLAT President to pass appropriate administrative directions including a time schedule for the early disposal of the appeal.
The tech giant last Wednesday also concurrently filed an application before SC seeking “modification” of the Apex Court’s judgment in the Android case, stating that the January 19 ruling did not record the entire extent of Google’s “offer”.
The “modification application” has been filed by Google to the limited extent of the “offer” that was made by it on a ‘without prejudice’ basis.
Indian start-ups’ dismay
Last Wednesday, just a day before the extended deadline to implement CCI’s ten directives expired, Google said in a blogpost that it has informed CCI on how it would comply with the Competition watchdog’s directives.
The tech giant said it was making changes to its platform in India, allowing original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to licence individual Google apps for preinstallation on their devices. Earlier, the apps came preinstalled in the Android smartphones/ devices for free, but many apps forming part of its Google Mobile Suite (GMS) could not be uninstalled.
Among other announcements around the CCI directives, Google also said that Indian users will now have the option to choose their default search engine via a choice of screens.
However, Indian start-ups contended that Google’s proposals announced last Wednesday are cosmetic, incremental and piecemeal and do not satisfy the CCI’s directives in toto. They also contended that the tech giant was not complying fully in letter and spirit, and in time with the orders of the Apex Court.
