SC Agrees To Hear Amazon’s Appeal In Future Group Case On Feb 8

On Tuesday, the SC had put aside the orders of the Delhi HC bench which also refused the arbitration that restrained the Rs 24,731 crore deal between Future Retail Ltd (FRL) and Reliance Ltd. 

Representational Image | AFP

New Delhi: In a recent development in the Amazon-Future Group case, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal by US e-commerce giant Amazon against the stay on arbitration order between the Future group and Amazon on February 8.

The stay on arbitration proceedings was held by a division bench of the Delhi HC. On Tuesday, the SC had put aside the orders of the Delhi HC bench which also refused the arbitration that restrained the Rs 24,731 crore deal between Future Retail Ltd (FRL) and Reliance Ltd. 

The apex court bench led by CJI NV Ramana put aside two more orders of the division bench and ordered a fresh adjudication. The court has also requested the Delhi HC to set up a bench for quick resolution of the case. The bench led by CJI Ramana also comprised justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli. 

“We set aside the impugned orders dated February 2, 2021, and March 18, 2021, and other impugned order dated October 29, 2021. We direct the learned (HC) judge to consider the issue and pass an order on its own merits uninfluenced by observations,” the bench said in its order.

The US e-commerce firm Amazon has been opposing the deal between Reliance and the Future group accusing the latter of violating its deal with Amazon. For the same, Amazon had dragged the Future group to the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).

The Emergency Awards (EA) given by the SIAC to Future group prevented it from going ahead with the deal. In December 2021 the Competition Commission of India (CCI) revoked the deal between Amazon and FRL, imposing a Rs 202 crore penalty on Amazon for certain contraventions. However, the EA still prevented the FRL from going ahead with its deal with Reliance Ltd.

The apex court had set aside the verdict after the January 11 hearing of the case and wanted to send it back to the Delhi HC to render the enforceability of the SIAC award. The question is still in point after the case has been going on for more than a year.