Delhi High Court issued notice in response to Google’s appeal of the CCI order

The Delhi High Court issued notice to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and several start-ups on Wednesday in response to Google’s appeal against an order issued by a high court single-bench in the app billing systems case. Google was appealing Monday’s order of a single-judge bench asking the CCI to consider the Alliance of Digital India Foundation’s (ADIF) petition against the tech giant’s policy of allowing the use of third-party payment processors on a commission basis for paid app downloads and in-app purchases. The matter was scheduled for hearing on July 19 before a Bench presided over by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and comprised of Justice Subramonium Prasad. On Tuesday, the same bench denied an urgent listing of the matter, which was raised by senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, who represented Google. On Monday, the single-judge bench asked the anti-trust regulator to consider the ADIF’s petition, an alliance of individuals and an industry representative body of innovative start-ups in the country, by April 26. In the previous hearing, Sethi argued that while the CCI requires a quorum of the chairperson and two members, it currently has only two members and thus cannot hear the ADIF’s plea. The ADIF filed a complaint with the court this month, alleging that the anti-trust regulator failed to act on its application objecting to Google’s new payment policy due to a lack of quorum. Google opposed the petition before the single-judge bench on several grounds, including that the CCI was incapable of adjudicating the petitioner’s application because there were only two members and the chairperson had yet to be appointed