The Supreme Court of India rejected Google LLC’s plea seeking modification of its order from January 19 on Friday. The Supreme Court ruled that the company can raise the concerns during the hearing of its appeal before NCLAT.
On January 19, the Supreme Court backed the order of the NCLAT. It declined to grant an interim stay on the imposition of a penalty of Rs. 1,337 crore on Google by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for allegations of abusing its position in the Android mobile tech-space.
The top court bench consisting of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice P S Narasimha and Justice J B Pardiwala ruled that it can only allow the addition of “without prejudice” in the order. Google advocates have appealed that some portions of the order need to be changed/omitted. However, the bench of judges declared that the order was taken in open court and thus there is no scope of modification and clarification.
The appeal of Google is listed for hearing next week before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) and they can raise these issues before the tribunal.
The top court had come to the conclusion that the findings of the CCI against Google were firstly, not outside its jurisdiction and secondly, did not consist of any manifest error warranting its interference. The CCI had granted the US tech giant a week to deposit 10 percent of the penalty imposed on Google.
The Supreme Court has mandated the NCLAT to decide on Google’s appeal against the CCI order by the 31st of March.