Amazon-Future Row: 'Future Group Is Trying To Delay International Arbitration,' Says SC

The Chief Justice of India, Justice DY Chandrachud on Thursday observed that Future Group was trying to defeat the order of the apex court and intended to stall the arbitration proceedings at SIAC.

Amazon has moved the Supreme Court for allowing arbitration proceedings to restart at SIAC.

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Supreme Court on Thursday said that Future Group is trying to stall international arbitration in the Amazon-Future Group dispute. The Chief Justice of India, Justice DY Chandrachud observed that Future Group is trying to stall the arbitration proceedings at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), reported Live Law.

Supreme Court bench comprising of CJI, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice Hima Kohli, and Justice J.B. Pardiwala was hearing the year-old case related to Amazon's investment in Future Retail. Amazon has moved the Supreme Court for allowing arbitration proceedings to restart at SIAC.

Amazon NV Investment Holding LLC’s counsel Gopal Subramaniam told the court that the Future Group has filed a petition under Article 227 before the Delhi HC challenging the tribunal's decision of the tribunal. He said that “the arbitration proceedings should in no way be postponed.”

CJI observed that the Future Group has filed more than 200 petitions to stall the proceedings. He told Future Group's counsel, “You cannot keep stultifying the proceedings before the arbitral tribunal and this is just a ploy to delay the proceedings…All ploys by well heeled parties to delay the arbitration...Your client is trying to be too clever by half... As a Chief Justice of this court I am concerned.”

“This is an international arbitration... Is this how the courts of this country will bring repute to the process? Global India must maintain the sanctity of international arbitral proceedings…We will not let the arbitration process be stultified,” he added.

The Future Group had earlier approached SAIC with a plea to terminate the arbitration proceedings. On June 28, the plea was rejected. Subsequently, they moved to the Delhi HC against the SIAC order.

On November 28, SAIC is going for the final hearing on the matter.

The case started after Future Group proposed to sell its retail, wholesale & logistics assets to Reliance for Rs 24,713 crore. When the proposal was made public, Amazon opposed the deal on the ground that it had invested Rs 1,400 crore in Future Coupons (a promoter of Future Retail) which “does not allow Future to sell retail assets to certain companies, including Reliance.”