Google vs CCI: Competition Commission denies leaking any confidential information

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Monday denied the allegation of leaking confidential reports. Internet giants Google LLC in a plea had alleged that the government body leaked information. The CCI through Additional Solicitor General (ASG) N Venkataraman said that the commission strongly condemns the accusations made by the company. Google last week had filed a writ petition in Delhi High Court claiming that CCI had leaked a confidential interim fact-finding report submitted by the Director General's office to the media.

"No confidential report is leaked," the CCI told Delhi High Court during a hearing. Senior Advocate Venkataraman appearing for CCI revealed that, "in the re-appraisal, we have answered all the queries. We have said we will not reveal the signatory name". The CCI further submitted that Google should sue media houses that published "so-called confidential reports" instead for the damage caused. "We strongly condemn the accusations levelled by Google on a government body. There is no single evidence that we have done it," the lawyer said.

Meanwhile, Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for Google LLC claimed that CCI is regularly leaking important reports. The advocate further said that a protective order must be in place as leakage of confidential reports is against the law. "This is happening habitually, then what is the need of this confidentiality requirement? There is a complete denial of natural justice," Singhvi added. However, the bench led by Justice Rekha Palli adjourned the matter for Monday.

Google vs CCI

Google on September 23 filed a writ petition in Delhi High Court that the CCI leaked a confidential fact-finding report with regards to its ongoing probe in connection with the company's smartphone platform Android. The internet giants claimed that the commission leaked the report to the media. Google on September 18 had also released a statement alleging that the government body was leaking confidential information.

Commenting on the petition with the high court, a Google spokesperson said, “We are deeply concerned that the Director General’s Report, which contains our confidential information in an ongoing case, was leaked to the media while in the CCI’s custody.” Google in its statement had said, "Protecting confidential information is fundamental to any governmental investigation, and we are pursuing our legal right to seek redress and prevent any further unlawful disclosures. We cooperated fully and maintained confidentiality throughout the investigative process, and we hope and expect the same level of confidentiality from the institutions we engage with," Google said further in its statement. The tech giant had further stated that the DG’s findings do not reflect the final decision of the CCI and the submission of the investigation report is an interim procedural step. 

CCI report

According to the CCI report, Google provided at least 24 responses during the investigation, defending itself and saying that it was not harming competition. The 750-page report claims that requiring app pre-installation 'amounts to imposition of an unreasonable condition on the device manufacturers' in violation of Indian competition law and that the firm used its Play Store app store to maintain its monopoly. According to the report, Google's Play Store policies were one-sided, imprecise, vague, biased, and arbitrary, and Android has "enjoyed its dominant position" in licensable operating systems for smartphones and tablets since 2011.

(With ANI inputs)

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