The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to grant an urgent hearing to Google on its challenge to a single-judge bench order asking the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to consider a plea of the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) against the tech giant’s policy of allowing the use of third-party payment processors for paid app downloads and in-app purchases on a commission basis.

The matter was mentioned for an urgent listing by senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, who appeared for Google before a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad.

The single-judge bench had, on Monday, asked the anti-trust regulator to consider the plea of the ADIF, an alliance of individuals and an industry representative body of innovative start-ups in the country, on or before April 26.

Sethi sought an urgent hearing against the direction and informed the court that the CCI would take up the matter in the afternoon under the order of the single-judge bench.

He emphasised that while the requisite quorum of the CCI is the chairperson and two members, presently it has only two members and it cannot proceed. However, the bench noted any vacancy or defect in the constitution of the CCI would not invalidate any proceedings so far as its adjudicatory.