SC refuses to modify order on Google’s plea

The Supreme Court refuses to entertain the plea of Google LLC seeking modification of its January 19 order and said the company can raise its grievances during hearing of its appeal before the NCLAT.

A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala said at most it can add without prejudice in the January 19 order and nothing more. The bench said the order was dictated in the open court and therefore there is nothing to clarify or modify.

The counsel appearing for Competition Commission of India (CCI) said the appeal of Google LLC is listed for hearing next week before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) and they can raise these issues before the tribunal.

The bench told Singh, Sorry, it can't be done. We will not do it. You can raise all these grievances during the hearing of the appeals.

On January 19, in a setback to Google, the top court had endorsed the order of the NCLAT declining to grant an interim stay on the imposition of a penalty of Rs 1,337 crore on the US tech giant by the competition regulator for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the Android mobile device ecosystem.

The top court had said at the interlocutory stage, it would suffice to say that the findings of the CCI against Google were neither without jurisdiction nor suffering from any manifest error warranting its interference.

It is suffice to note that the findings which have been arrived at by the CCI cannot be held, at the interlocutory stage, to be either without jurisdiction or suffering from a manifest error which would have necessitated interference at the interlocutory stage, it had ordered.

These may be followed to the following extent - A. Google would ensure unbundling of only search and chrome from Play, chrome from search; In terms of the decision of the EC (European Commission) dated 18 July 2018, Google would ensure that the search app pre installation exclusivity only on portfolio wise RSAs would not be pursued, the top court had said.