From November 28, NCLAT will begin hearing Google’s request regarding the Play Store

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) will start hearing Google’s appeal against the CCI’s decision to fine the internet giant Rs 936.44 crore for abusing its dominant position with regard to Play Store policy on November 28.

This comes after Justice Rakesh Kumar, one of its judges, withdrew from hearing the case on April 17.

An NCLAT panel made up of Chairman Justice Ashok Bhushan and Alok Srivastava heard the case on Monday. The court gave the parties, including the competing startups and the Competition Commission of India, four weeks to submit their responses.

Additionally, it granted Google two weeks to file a response, if any.

The issue is scheduled to be heard on November 28 before the appeal tribunal.

Google’s appeal was ordered to be scheduled before a different court on April 17 by an NCLAT panel made up of Justice Rakesh Kumar and Alok Srivastava.

Google was fined Rs 936.44 crore by the CCI on October 25, 2022, for abusing its dominant position with regard to its Play Store policy.

The regulator also ordered the firm to stop all unfair business practices and take a number of steps to rectify the anti-competitive concerns within a specified time frame.

Google contested this before NCLAT, an appeals court for decisions made by the fair trade regulator CCI.

On January 11 of this year, the Google petition for a stay of the penalty was denied by the NCLAT panel of Justices Kumar and Srivastava.

The action was set for hearing on April 17, 2023, and the court instructed Google to deposit 10% of the amount with its registry.

Similarly, on January 4, the same panel rejected a request for a temporary stay of another Rs 1,337 crore fine levied against Google by the CCI for exploiting the dominance of its Android mobile operating system and ordered it to deposit 10% of the total.

Google brought both cases to the Supreme Court for review.

The NCLAT was given till March 31 to rule on Google’s appeal after the Supreme Court remanded the case involving the Rs 1,337 crore penalty to NCLAT.

Following this, a day-to-day hearing was initiated by an NCLAT bench made up of Chairman Justice Ashok Bhushan and Alok Srivastava. On March 29, the bench issued a decision that gave a mixed verdict, upholding the Rs 1,337 crore fine while removing conditions like the ability to host third-party app stores on the Play Store.

Later on, however, Google opted to take NCLAT to court rather than continuing with its lawsuit about the Rs 936.44 crore fine.