New Delhi, Feb 12 (UNI) The Supreme Court recently refused to temporarily restrain Google from removing those apps from its Play Store that don’t comply with its billing policy.
A Bench Comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dr DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra declining to stay the Madras High Court order which had dismissed the petitions filed by digital start-ups and app developers seeking to Stay Google’s new user choice billing policy, and issued notice on the Petition.
CJI Chandrachud said ‘since Google has succeeded in its arguments before the High Court, we cannot stay at this stage and we will hear the matter,’ and listed to be heard on March 19.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for the digital Start-ups and app developers, while Senior Advocate Harish Salve appeared for Google.
Earlier a single judge bench of the Madras High Court had upheld Google’s new policy, which imposed a service fee of up to 26 per cent for download of paid apps and in-app purchases on the Google Play Store.
In January this year, the Division Bench of the Madras High Court dismissed the start-ups appeal against a single-judge verdict upholding Google’s new policy .
The division bench of the High Court had granted the start-ups three weeks’ interim protection against being delisted from the Google Play Store.
The High Court also redirected the appeals to the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
