The Competiton Commission of India (CCI) on January 5 informed the Karnataka High Court that it would complete its investigation into Google's Play Store practices within 60 days, Economic Times reported. CCI made this assertion in response to a petition filed by Google in the court on December 27. Google had asked the court to quash the December 14 order issued by the CCI, which sought a response from the company on the plea filed by the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) seeking interim relief from Google’s new billing policy until the investigation is complete. The outcome of this investigation will be of significance to app developers and start-ups across the country as the anti-trust watchdog will decide on whether or not Google is allowed to force apps to use its billing system and whether the commission charged by the company is reasonable. Google, CCI agree to file for disposal of the petition Both Google and CCI are expected to file a joint memo for the disposal of the petition after CCI set aside ADIF's request for interim orders, the ET report said. Google's counsel had argued that interim orders are unnecessary as the company has voluntarily delayed the new billing policy to October 2022 instead of March 2022. "We are pleased with the outcome of today’s hearing before the Karnataka High Court and welcome the CCI’s recognition that there is no need to proceed with ADIF’s request for interim orders, and that CCI will instead focus on completing its ongoing factual probe.” — Google spokesperson CCI sought…
