CCI assures Karnataka High Court no action against Google till Jan. 5

In view of the undertaking given by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) that there will not be any precipitative action on the matter, the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of the petition filed by Google India Private Limited to January 5, 2022.

Google India Private Limited and others moved the Karnataka High Court challenging the order passed by the CCI on December 14, 2021 pertaining to a probe into Play Store rules. The CCI probe follows a petition filed by Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF), a start up industry body seeking relief from certain categories of new Play Store policies.

Hearing the arguments of Additional Solicitor General (ASG) of India N Venkataraman on behalf of CCI and Senior Advocate Gopal Subramanium, representing Google India, the vacation bench of Justice BM Shyam Prasad noted in the order that there is a unanimous submission that no precipitative action will take place in the matter till January 5, 2022, the next date of hearing.

During the brief hearing on the urgency of the matter, senior advocate Gopal Subramanyam questioned the legality of the order passed by the CCI. Defending the action of the CCI, ASG Venkataraman gave an undertaking that there will not be any precipitative action on the matter till the next date of hearing.

As interim relief, Google India sought more time to reply to the CCI’s query relating to the ongoing probe on implementing new Play Store policies.

Earlier this month, Google extended the deadline for implementation of compulsory use of Google Billing systems for in-app sales digital goods and services from March 31, 2022 to October 31, 2022. BloombergQuint