A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli got the consent of Future group and Amazon over the resumption of arbitral proceedings.
The Supreme Court was hearing the submissions of US e-commerce major Amazon
The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that an arbitral tribunal must decide Future Retail's application as the Competition Commission of India (CCI) withdrew its permission to Amazon to invest Rs 1,473 crore in Future Coupons. Earlier, Future Coupons private limited, which is a promoter group entity of Future Retail, received the amount from Amazon for 49 percent stake in the company.
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A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli got consent of Future group and Amazon over the resumption of arbitral proceedings before the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC). The bench had heard part arguments on Amazon's plea on April 1.
AMAZON VS FUTURE RETAIL IN SC
The Supreme Court was hearing the submissions of US e-commerce major Amazon, seeking an interim order to ensure that the Future Retail Limited (FRL) assets, including "Big Bazaar shops", not be alienated till the dispute over its merger with Reliance Retail is decided by an arbitral tribunal.
The bench had taken note of the submissions of both sides, Amazon and Future Group, that they have no objection to the resumption of the arbitral proceedings and said as far as "the first issue about going ahead with the arbitration is concerned, both of you have agreed".
Amazon and Future Group are engaged in a multi-forum litigation on the issue of FRL's merger deal to the tune of Rs 24,500 crore with Reliance Retail Limited after the US e-commerce giant dragged FRL into arbitration at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre in October 2020. It has been alleged by Amazon that on March 3, as many as 600 stores of FRL were taken away by Reliance.
AMAZON'S STANCE
At the outset, senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, appearing for the US firm, had said as far as the resumption of the arbitration proceedings is concerned, there is no difference of opinion between Amazon and Future Group.
"But there cannot be a sudden handover of assets," Subramanium had said, adding that the US firm needs an interim order "against alienation of the assets in favour of any other party and the assets must continue to remain with FRL and operate with FRL until the matter is resolved by the arbitral tribunal".
He had said over 800 shops of FRL have been vacated and taken over by the Reliance group.
Amazon had apprehended the "disappearance" of assets and sought an interim order from the top court to ensure the preservation of the FRL assets, besides the resumption of arbitration over FRL's merger deal with Reliance Retail.
The bench had taken note of the allegations of the US firm that the "applecart was being upset" by its rivals and asked the Future Group firms -- FRL and Future Coupons Limited (FCPL) -- to respond to Amazon's interim plea.
FUTURE RETAIL'S ARGUMENT
Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for FRL, had said around 374 shops are with the group and it is not going to give those to anybody on its own unless some landlords throw them out.
"My bank accounts are frozen and I cannot pay rent. Everyone is hoping that if the scheme gets through, Reliance comes in and everyone will get the money," he had said, adding that there is no money to pay the rentals and moreover, if the lending banks come into the picture, the IBC (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code) will come into play.
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Published By:
Debjit Sinha
Published On:
Apr 6, 2022
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