The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) will, on Wednesday, pronounce its verdict on the high-profile anti-trust battle in Google’s appeal in the CCI’s Android ruling case. While NCLAT hearing in this Android appeal case began on February 15, the Appellate Tribunal had reserved the judgement in this matter on March 20.

The outcome of the Android appeal case in India will have far-reaching implications for the tech industry and the future of competition law.

The NCLAT’s verdict in the Android appeal case to be pronounced on Wednesday by the NCLAT Bench comprising Ashok Bhushan, Chairperson and Alok Srivastava, Member (Technical) comes just two days before the March 31 deadline given by Supreme Court in its landmark ruling on January 19, sources familiar with the developments said.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) had on October 20 last year, in its Android ruling, imposed a penalty of ₹1,337 crore on Google and issued ten non-monetary directions to the tech giant for its anti-competitive conduct in various markets in the Android ecosystem.

The Android appeal case before the NCLAT is a high-profile legal battle that has been ongoing for several years. The case centres around allegations of anti-competitive practices by Google, particularly in relation to its Android operating system.

Also read: CCI’s investigation arm conducting inquiries against several Big Tech firms, Govt tells Rajya Sabha

It is an important legal battle that highlights the issue of anti-competitive practices by tech giants, such as Google. 

The case is significant not just for India, but for other countries as well, as it underscores the need for strong competition laws that can keep pace with rapidly evolving technology markets. 

Other countries may also look to follow India’s lead in scrutinising the practices of big tech companies. Google, for its part, has faced similar allegations of anti-competitive practices in European Union and the United States.

The NCLAT verdict on Wednesday is also expected to throw light on the applications of the intervenors —Epic Games, MapMyIndia, and OSlabs Technology— who had sought impleadment to make their respective submissions. 

So far, no formal order has been passed on their impleadment applications and that is likely to be decided when the final order is issued by the Appellate Tribunal on Wednesday, sources added.

Story so far

Google had, on January 24, this year filed an application before the NCLAT seeking an expedited hearing in the Android matter to ensure its timely disposal in line with the directions of the Supreme court.

While declining to interfere with the NCLAT order of January 4 in the CCI’s Android ruling, the Supreme Court had on January 19 in its ruling directed the Appellate Tribunal to dispose of Google’s appeal by March 31.  

The SC had declined to grant a stay on the ten non-monetary directions issued by CCI in its October 20 ruling last year. The apex court had, however, extended the period of compliance on CCI’s ruling on the Android matter by another week, and this expired on January 26.

Also read: Android case: The story so far in CCI’s epic anti-trust battle against Google

NCLAT, had on January 4, in the Google appeal matter declined to give an interim stay against the CCI ruling of October 20 last year 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 that refused an interim stay. 

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 had contended that the Tribunal had erred in making the admission of the Google’s NCLAT appeal against the Commission’s Order subject to a pre-deposit amount.

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