Search engine Google has filed an appeal against a single-judge promulgation of the Delhi High Court directing the Competition Commission of India to take up the applications moved by a bunch of start-ups challenging the Google's new in-app billing policy and dispose of them by April 26.
Senior Attorney Sandeep Sethi brought up the appeal before a division bench made up of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad, and he asked for the matter to be scheduled for Tuesday.
"Yesterday, the order was approved. The choice must be made today as it is planned to take place at CCI today at 2:30 pm. Sethi informed the Court that the CCI lacked quorum. On Tuesday, the bench, however, declined to hear the case.
A single-judge bench led by Justice Tushar Rao Gedela issued the ruling on Monday and urged the CCI to rule on the case by no later than April 26. The court also directed the tech giant to put the matter on hold until the CCI makes its decision.
"Directing the CCI to take up the applications under Section 42 of the Competition Act as filed by the petitioner for hearing and consideration in line with the legislation on or before April 26, 2023, is not hindered by any legal or other issues. It is made clear that the observations made here are only intended to be used in deciding the current list of cases before this court and do not amount to an opinion on the merits of the case. As a result, they are made without prejudice to the rights and arguments of all parties that will be raised at the proper proceeding, said Justice Gedela.
Applications for temporary relief are submitted in accordance with Section 42 of the Competition Act of 2002, which gives the Commission authority to impose sanctions on a party for disobeying its instructions.
The policy will go into effect on April 26. The petitioner coalition claims that Google's new billing policy is disguised as a new version of the Google Play Billing System, which pretends to give app developers the freedom to choose third-party payment processors.
The plea read, "...due to lack of quorum since October 26, 2022, it is practically non-functioning, and Respondent No. 2 to 5 (Google) are taking advantage of that and engaging in anti-competitive conducts that will cause irreversible harm to the members of the petitioner and other app developers in the market and cause distortion in the market."
Despite the fact that the customer was utilising a third-party payment processor, it was announced that Google would still charge the developer a "service fee" at a 4 percent lower rate under the guise of a new pricing policy.
Since GPBS is not used in these transactions, there is currently no necessity to pay a commission. This 26% fee should not be paid by Google at all because it is arbitrary and unfair to charge it even when Google's payment services aren't being used, the petition read. The petitioner argues that despite not using GPBS, app developers will still be required to pay nearly the same amount.
According to claims made by Google, when the final order was reserved, the company decided against implementing the new billing policy after the case before CCI was resolved.
On October 25, 2022, CCI issued an order requiring Google to refrain from placing any restrictions on app developers that are unfair, unjustified, or discriminatory to the services offered to them.
The argument also asks for guidance on when the CCI may properly rely on the "doctrine of necessity" to bring non-compliance actions against Google.
"Competition Commission has begun accepting planned combinations for the benefit of the market and economy by claiming the notion of necessity. To judge information relating to anti-competitive behaviour professing in the market and discourage such actions, the CCI should adopt comparable standards and a non-discriminatory method, the plea added.
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