Supreme Court bench to hear Amazon’s plea against Future Retail

A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Monday said that it will hear Amazon’s plea against the Delhi High Court judgement in the Future Retail-Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL) case. 

The high court had on February 8 cleared the acquisition of Future Retail’s business by RRVL for a consideration of $3.8 billion. 

In its order, the Supreme Court bench, comprising justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and justice B R Gavai, said that the proceedings by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) can continue, but will not culminate in any final order of sanction of scheme.

The court said that the matter will be listed in three weeks, after the rejoinders have been submitted within two weeks. 

Amazon had recently moved the Supreme Court against the division bench order passed by Delhi HC, which had stayed the direction of status quo passed by a Delhi HC single judge bench, comprising justice JR Midha, on February 2. 

Read: Days of Future (Retail) past: A timeline of the Biyani founded retailer’s face-off with Amazon

In October 2020, Amazon filed for arbitration with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), seeking a stay on the proposed acquisition of Future Retail by RRVL. Amazon had alleged that Future Retail violated the contract by agreeing to the sale.

On January 6, the SIAC announced a three member arbitration panel to pronounce the final verdict on the ongoing dispute.