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The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has refused to grant a stay on the appeal Google has raised against the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) judgement, it was confirmed on Thursday.
Google late last month approached the appellate tribunal to appeal the CCI decision to penalise the tech giant Rs 1,338 crore for abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem.
“We welcome the NCLAT order of not granting a stay on directions passed by the CCI. The CCI directions were passed after a lengthy investigation keeping in mind Google’s clear and unequivocal abuse of dominance practices, which have terribly harmed the Indian consumer, ecosystem and economy,” MapmyIndia CEO and ED, Rohan Verma, told IANS.
MapmyIndia has also filed an impleadment application “since we believe we can participate more effectively in the adjudicatory process to bring to light the abusive practices of Google and highlight how they have harmed the entire ecosystem including business interests of MapmyIndia”, he added.
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In October, the Indian anti-competition watchdog also slapped its second penalty on Google — this time to the tune of around $113 million (Rs 936 crore) — for abusing its dominant position with respect to its Play Store policies.
The Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) also hailed the action taken by the CCI against Google for unfair use of its dominant position with respect to Play Store policies, especially in regard to In-app payment systems.
“The penalties imposed by the CCI on Google revolve around how the tech behemoth has abused its dominant position in the market to resort to unfair practices in the android mobile operating system (OS) and the Play Store ecosystem,” said Dr Ritesh Malik, Director, ADIF.
“This shows proactiveness on the CCI’s part, which is one of the few competition regulators across the globe to have taken timely measures to ensure that the ecosystem provides a level playing field for all players,” he added.
