Google has filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India, challenging the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal's (NCLAT) order that rejected Google's request to stay the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) order and penalty of Rs 1,337 crore ($180 million).

Google will argue that the CCI order is "extraordinary" and contains "errors", including instances of plagiarism from competition proceedings in the European Union. The company will also argue that the open system of its Android operating system makes phones more affordable and enables more than 15,000 models across 1,100 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

Google believes some of CCI's directives cannot be implemented, and the company "has no other option" than approaching the Supreme Court for relief, according to Reuters.

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Google licenses its Android system to smartphone makers, but critics say it imposes restrictions like mandatory pre-installation of its own apps that are anti-competitive. The company argues such agreements help keep the operating system free.

The CCI ruled in October that Google's licensing of its Play Store "shall not be linked with the requirement of pre-installing" Google search services, the Chrome browser, YouTube or any other Google applications.

The CCI in October last year fined the Alphabet Inc unit $161 million for exploiting its dominant position in the market for Android which powers 97 percent of smartphones in India, a key growth region for the US. giant. Google subsequently challenged the CCI order and sought an interim stay on the order and penalty. However, the NCLAT held that Google had not demonstrated sufficient urgency or grounds for the stay.

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First Published:Jan 5, 2023 9:11 PM IST