Google Moves Delhi High Court Against Competition Commission Alleging Leak Of Confidential Report

The Delhi High Court today allowed urgent listing of a plea filed by Google against the alleged leak of a confidential report, prepared by the investigative arm of Competition Commission of India (CCI) over the company's alleged anti-competitive practices.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh has agreed to hear the matter tomorrow, i.e., on September 24.

Dr. AM Singhvi, appearing for the tech giant, mentioned the matter at the outset today. He claimed that the anti-trust body has prepared an adverse investigative report against Google, which it is now leaking to the media. The reports have already surfaced allover, he claimed.

Hearing this, the Bench agreed to allow the listing tomorrow.

On September 18, 2021, a confidential interim fact-finding report submitted by the Director General's office to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) relating to an ongoing investigation into Google's Android smartphone agreements was leaked to the media, Google has claimed in a press release.

The US-based tech giant claims that it is yet to receive a copy of this confidential report.

The press note goes on to state that such leakage not only affects Google and its partners but also impairs its ability to "defend" itself.

"Protecting confidential information is fundamental to any governmental investigation," a Google spokesperson reportedly said.

Last week, reports surfaced claiming that a CCI investigation found Google guilty of stifling competition in the mobile operating system.

The probe accuses Google of imposing and forcing one-sided contracts on Android devices as well as app makers to ensure that its own products and apps maintain primacy in consumer usage, and come pre-installed and as default options to get the highest user preference, reported TOI.