In another setback for Google, the Madras High Court (HC) has temporarily restricted the tech major from delisting Matrimony.com’s app from its Play Store until June 1. 

This comes a few days after the Madras HC had granted interim relief to the matrimonial platform. The startup’s subsidiary Bharat Matrimony appealed in the HC, arguing that Google was forcing app developers to adopt the new billing system for which it was charging high commissions, even if the payments were routed through third-parties.

In an order issued on April 24, the HC granted an interim injunction to Matrimony.com and restrained Google from removing the app because of non-compliance of its new user choice billing system. 

Terming the 11-26 per cent fee ‘unconscionable’, a single-judge bench of the HC observed that Matrimony.com would be put to an ‘irreparable loss and hardship’ if it was delisted from the Play Store marketplace.

“Therefore, the balance of convenience is also in favour of the applicant for grant of an order of injunction against delisting, till the respondents are heard,” the bench said.

Commenting upon this development, Matrimony’s CEO Murugavel Janakiraman called the injunction a ‘great relief’ and said that they will continue to fight legally until Google "stops its monopoly behaviour" of taxing Indian startups. Terming Google’s new payment system a 'death knell for Indian startups', Janakiraman also said that Google was levying high service charges without providing any service. 

Leveraging Section 10A, Matrimony.com argued that the PSS Act prohibited intermediaries from charging commissions on UPI payments. It said that the tech giant's new billing policy was flouting RBI rules and charged commissions from homegrown developers.