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In what is seen as a setback for Google, the Delhi High Court, on Tuesday, declined to list for today Google’s appeal challenging the Single Judge order directing CCI to take up applications moved by an alliance of digital start-ups against the tech giant’s new in-app user choice billing (UCB) policy and consider the same on or before April 26.
Meanwhile, the CCI has following the Delhi High Court Single Judge Tushar Rao Gedela’s order of Monday convened a hearing on ADIF’s complaint at 2.30 pm on Tuesday afternoon, hours before the tech giant’s new UCB policy will go live in India on April 26, sources said.
On Tuesday, Google moved the Delhi High Court in appeal against the Single Judge order and its Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi mentioned the appeal before a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad.
Sethi sought urgent listing of the matter on Tuesday and apprised the court that the CCI is to hear the matter at 2:30 PM.
“The hearing is today at 2:30 PM and a decision is to be taken. There is a lack of quorum,” Sethi said.
On the other hand, the counsel appearing for Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) said on Tuesday before the Division Bench that the Letter Patents Appeal (LPA) has not been served upon them yet.
However, the Delhi High Court refused to list the matter for Tuesday, which meant that CCI can go ahead with its planned hearing, sources added.
The Google appeal has been filed before Division Bench against the Single Judge order directing CCI to take up the complaint filed against Google by ADIF.
“There is no impediment, legal or otherwise, in directing the CCI to take up the applications under Section 42 of Competition Act as filed by the petitioner for hearing and considering the same in accordance with law on or before April 26, 2023.
It is made clear that the observations made herein are only to the extent of deciding the present list before this court and shall not tantamount to any expression on the merits of the case and the same is therefore, without prejudice to the rights and contentions of all parties to be taken at the appropriate proceeding,” Justice Gedela said in his order issued on Monday.
The Single Judge also noted that the proceedings before the CCI would not be vitiated due to vacancy or any defect in its constitution.
“Merely because of a defect or a vacancy in the constitution of the CCI, the CCI cannot be considered as a statutory authority not having jurisdiction to adjudicate the complaints or other proceedings pending before it. Any interpretation, other than the aforesaid, would render the provisions of Section 15 otiose and which could not possibly be the intention of the Legislature either,” order added.
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